Chilonga people’s struggles continue
High Court judges on October 12, 2021, reserved judgment on an application by Chilonga villagers who are challenging provisions of the Communal Lands Act, arguing that it does not respect African traditional values with regards to land ownership.
The application was heard before Justices Joseph Mafusire, Never Katiyo and Chipo Mungwari at the Harare High Court.
Following the promulgation of the Communal land (Setting Aside of Land) (Chiredzi) Notice, 2021 published in Statutory Instrument 72A of 2021 on March 16, 2021, the villagers had approached the High Court, where they filed two court applications challenging the arbitrary eviction and seeking an order to set aside sections 4 and 6(1)(b) of the Communal Lands Act.
The indigenous Shangaan people are now reluctant to invest or improve their infrastructure and property as their future is uncertain as the judgment was reserved.
The affected area is under Chief Sengwe, headman Chilonga and headman Masivamele with a total number of 678 villages and 2 258 households making a population of 13 840 people, who are being asked to pave way for lucerne grass project by a private investor, Dendairy.
The Chilonga villagers argued that the Communal Lands Act was a racist and colonial creature, which regarded Africans as second rate citizens.
The forced displacements planned by the government are projected to cause a lot of untold suffering among the poorly resourced and vulnerable indigenous Shangaan people.
The commonly cited challenges are to emerge from the loss of livelihoods, social capital, cultural identity and heritage cites.
Indigenous rights to ancestral homelands, self-determination, intellectual property, livelihood, and culture are constantly threatened by inadequate government policies that allow multinational companies to undertake uncontrolled resource extraction and exploitation as a way of boosting foreign revenues, despite the risk of ecological disaster and social disgrace.
The indigenous Shangaan people are particularly vulnerable to incursions into their traditional territory through both land grabs and exploitation of natural resources because, most indigenous communities have no legal or other counsel, so it is relatively easy for government officials to persuade them to move, and high biological diversity in their traditional territories makes them easy targets for strong corporate interests.
In another sad development, Chilonga residents are worried about the presence of armed Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) personnel camped in their area without any communication.
It has been a week since the soldiers arrived in the area, some erected their tents near shops and others along the highway to Chikombedzi.
The reason for their presence is unknown but Zanu PF Chiredzi district coordinating committee chairperson an S. Mundunhehama circulated a WhatsApp message arguing that the soldiers were doing their military exercises.
The Chilonga leaders called for the government to communicate with the communities and if its real training they were supposed to be informed so that they take precautions of avoiding danger for themselves and their livestock. Masvingo Centre for Research and Community Development