Villagers opposed to construction of dam
Saturday, 31 December 2011 15:51
BY TATENDA CHITAGU
TAKUNDA Moyo (46) gazes in the sky, continuously puffing out clouds of smoke
from a homemade cigarette, while giving his back to the mud huts perched
precariously at the confluence of Tugwi and Mukosi rivers. This is where the
massive water reservoir, Tokwe-Mukosi dam, set to be the largest inland
water body in the country, is under construction.
At this time of the year, Moyo is usually worried about where to acquire
agricultural inputs at an affordable price but today he is concerned about
being displaced from his ancestral land.
The sound of the caterpillars chewing the earth, drawing nearer and nearer
to his homestead everyday leaves him with sleepless nights.
“We do not know our fate as we are about to be evicted from this place to
pave way for construction of the dam. We have to leave the place that we
have called home since we were born, but the big question is where do we
start from?” said the father of five.
“We have not been given options of where to go. We should have been the ones
allocated farms in the land reform programme. What about our school-going
children? What about their uniforms? Oh no, not again!”.
Moyo is among the 6 000 villagers that are set to be displaced by the
government to pave way for the construction of Tokwe-Mukosi dam, which upon
completion would become the largest inland dam after Lake Mutirikwi in the
same province.
For a long time now, villagers have been trying to resist relocation.
When construction stalled a decade ago due to lack of funds, villagers
heaved a heavy sigh of relief, but the recurrent grumbling caterpillars have
rekindled their misery.
However, the villagers’ fate was sealed when the government allocated US$20
million for the construction of the dam in the previous budget.
Moyo’s worst fears were confirmed by Masvingo provincial governor Titus
Maluleke who said the villagers could end up being resettled out of his
province because of space constraints.
“We have run out of space for resettlement. We are looking for space in
Masvingo and elsewhere. This means that the villagers can be resettled in or
outside Masvingo, depending on where we get the land,” said Maluleke, who is
also the resident minister.
“Tiri Kutsvaga uta nemuhari (We are desperate). We will look for land from
farms which have been resettled by the new farmers. Probably we can have
some extra hectarage here and there that can be consolidated to settle some
few hundreds.”
A taskforce to scout for land has already been set up in the province.
Government will also look at conservancies to see if their owners could be
compelled to shrug off part of their land for the villagers.
“We will look for land wherever possible, including conservancies. We will
be making consultations with the relevant ministry,” said Maluleke.
“This is a national project that will benefit the nation, just like what
happened in the Chiadzwa diamond fields, so it should be given first
priority.”
Moyo’s wish for Tokwe-Mukosi
Like others villagers, Moyo’s wish is to be resettled near the dam so that
he may also benefit from the massive water project through irrigation.
“Even if it is a national project, we should be the immediate
beneficiaries,” he said. “We have been compromised a lot, abandoning
graves of our relatives whose remains will be drowned in the water. Can we
be sacrificed for the whole nation?”
But the government argues that once complete, the dam would be the panacea
to the perennial food shortages that have hit Masvingo for the past decades
as the water would be used for irrigation purposes.
It would also be used for electricity generation, thereby filling the void
left by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa), which is failing
to adequately supply power to the nation.