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Chilonga folk in battle of their lives

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BY LINDA MUJURU

When Mkachana Chali meets fellow residents of this quiet, rural community in southeastern Zimbabwe, he chants “Chitakataka chahina,” a Shangaan saying that means “our black soil.”

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That’s all he talks about each day: the land.

For generations, this region located near the border with Mozambique and South Africa has been home to the Shangaan people, who, together with other indigenous groups, make up less than 10% of Zimbabwe’s population.

Now, however, Chali said the land and the entire Shangaan way of life are under threat.

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Earlier this year, the Zimbabwean government set aside nearly 13,000 hectares of land in the area for a major commercial irrigation project to support alfalfa production.

As a result, more than 12,000 Shangaan people in the region could be forcibly displaced from their homes.

“I have 22 cows and more than 60 goats. I have built my house here and given my children part of the land that I got from my father. My children have also built their homes on the land I gave them,” Chali said.

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“I’m very comfortable with what I have and what I have accomplished. If the government sets up this irrigation scheme, it will limit our land use.”

Moreover, the project could sever the Shangaan people’s connection with their ancestral graves and other sacred sites.

Traditional rituals, dances and music also could be lost if the Shangaan are displaced, according to the Masvingo Center for Research Advocacy and Development (Macrad), a nonprofit social and economic justice organisation.

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“They have lost all their rights to the land,” says Ephraim Mutombeni, coordinator of Macrad.

Local residents have been pushing back against the development project.

“We are self-sustainable, and we don’t want to depend on handouts. A private company-financed irrigation project will render us useless and dependent on them for survival,” Muhlava Matsilele said. “We don’t want our land taken!”

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Boniface Chirovera similarly said the project to grow alfalfa — also known as lucerne — will prevent him from raising cattle and growing sorghum, which he sells to local butcheries and breweries, respectively.

“Lucerne grass will not help me get food on my table,” Chirovera said.

“It will not enable me to send my children to school. It will not help me take care of my family the way I am right now, because it does not belong to me.”

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Residents of the region have been displaced before. In the 1960s, the Shangaan were forced to move off part of their ancestral land in order to make way for the Gonarezhou National Park, which stands just outside Chilonga.

And beginning in 2010, nearly 1,800 households were forcibly displaced from the villages of Chisumbanje and Chinyamukwakwa — about 110 kilometers and 130 kilometers  from Chilonga, respectively — to make way for an ethanol plant operated by Green Fuel, a Zimbabwean energy firm.

In 2012, a government committee found that most of the households displaced by the ethanol project had not been resettled or provided meaningful compensation.

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It criticised as inadequate the standard compensation of 0.5 hectare of land per household, recommending that households be provided with up to 2 hectares of land.

Merit Rumema, corporate social responsibility manager at Green Fuel, said the company has committed to allocating 10% of the land it develops to the local community and, to date, has distributed 0.5-hectare plots to 1,205 families in Chinyamukwakwa, Chisumbanje and Munepasi, another village in the area. “An additional 90 plots are currently being cleared and will soon be occupied by the community in the Chisumbanje area,” Rumema said.

Local residents do not feel they have received a fair deal, however.

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“I had 9 hectares of land that I grew crops on with my four children,” says Adam Chijakara, 83, who has lived in Chinyamukwakwa since 1973.

“Now I am left with half an acre, and my children were not given anything. Their legacy has been stolen.”

Melody Mlambo says she didn’t receive any warning that her 5 acres of farmland would be taken.

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“Even the cotton that was on the land at that time was destroyed by the Green Fuel company,” she says.

Rumema says Green Fuel operates in the region through an agreement with Zimbabwe’s Agricultural and Rural Development Authority, which grants it the right to access the land.

“Green Fuel is not aware of any other person or entity that has rights over the said land who are capable of being ‘displaced,’” Rumema said. “Anyone who claims they were ‘displaced’ must surely legally substantiate such allegation.”

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The Agricultural and Rural Development Authority did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The government should have addressed the concerns of local residents before moving forward with the ethanol project, says Claris Madhuku, director of the Platform for Youth and Community Development, a community organization focused on sustainable development that is based in Chipinge, another town in eastern Zimbabwe.

“The community members were not given an opportunity to negotiate for access to information on their rights and cultural concerns,” he says.

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All of this now concerns the residents of Chilonga, who see history repeating itself.

“These irrigation projects did not start here only,” said Chali, pointing out how other residents of the area have been impacted. “It has actually affected their livelihoods. And now they want to do the same to us.”- Global Press Journal

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In the community

Zambia Limits Worship Time To Two Hours To Curb Cholera

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BY AFRICANEWS

Churches across Zambia have received a mandate to restrict worship sessions to a maximum of two hours.

The directive, issued by Ndiwa Mutelo, a high-ranking official overseeing religious affairs, also prohibits the sale of perishable and ready-to-eat foods within church premises.

To further minimize the risk of disease transmission, worshippers are strongly advised to refrain from handshakes and hugs. In an official statement, Mr. Mutelo emphasized the importance of maintaining hygiene within worship centers.

Churches are now required to provide safe drinking water, designated hand washing points, and make available alcohol-based hand sanitizers to their congregants.

 

The urgency of these measures is underscored by the significant cholera outbreak in Zambia, with more than 7,800 reported cases since last October. Over the past 24 hours alone, the health ministry has recorded over 400 new cases and 18 fatalities.

This latest intervention aims to mitigate the impact of the cholera epidemic, emphasizing the collective responsibility of religious institutions in safeguarding public health.

SOURCE: AFRICANEWS

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Lubangwe villagers walk over 30KM to access nearest clinic

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BY LWANDLE MTHUNZI

Access to primary healthcare remains a major challenge to communities in Lubangwe resettlement area in Hwange where the nearest clinic is more than 30km away for some.

Lubangwe Railway Farm 55 resettlement was established in 2000 during the country’s land reform when scores of villagers, mostly families of war veterans, were settled in the area.

Government did not construct schools and clinics and old farm buildings were converted into learning facilities.

While some schools are now available as a result, although far away from some villages, the communities remain with no health facility which makes access to health a major challenge.

The worst affected are pregnant women and people living with chronic diseases such as HIV and TB who have to regularly get their monthly allocation of life saving tablets.

Edwin Nyoni, head of village 1 said had it not been for village health workers mortality could be high for people with chronic illnesses.

“We don’t have a clinic and people walk 25km to 30km to Ndlovu clinic because most have no money for transport. We risk our lives through the wildlife infested bush to Ndlovu hence we appeal to the government to help us establish a clinic nearby. We have village health workers who assist to reduce mortality and prevent home deliveries by making sure pregnant women and the chronically ill are assisted to go to hospital,” he said.

In village 2 villagers are patiently waiting for the opening of a clinic after a building was identified for use as a health facility.

The structure has no electricity and water, said village head Joseph Munsaka.

“They promised to bring some nurses to use a building that is lying idle. They said they want to connect water and electricity and we hope this will happen soon to save lives,” he said.

Gilbert Munkuli said sometimes health authorities visit with a mobile clinic at the nearby Nyongolo primary school.

He said some of his villagers walk more than 30km because they have no money for transport making access to health difficult.

“It is more than 30km to go to Ndlovu Clinic and health workers sometimes come to Nyongolo Primary School to give tablets especially to the chronically ill. Those with money sometimes hire cars but some die at home or fail to go to hospital which worsens the burden of diseases such as TB,” he said.

Because of proximity to Hwange coal mining town where most people in Hwange worked at the Hwange Colliery Company, the burden of TB is high around the district as many families have lived in Hwange town at some stage before retiring to the rural areas.

Nesi Mpala of village 2 appealed to the government to open a clinic to save chronically ill community members.

“The clinic is far and people who seek medical attention suffer, with pregnant women and those with chronic diseases the worst affected. People living with HIV and Aids are better because health workers come to give them tablets but those with TB have to go to the clinic and struggle to travel because transport is expensive. We wish the government can give us a mobile clinic so that TB patients and pregnant women get help,” said Mpala.

Government is working on a national health policy whose vision is to ensure primary health care is accessible to all communities although the plan has been in the pipeline for many years.

Health is a critical human right and key to attainment of Sustainable Development Goals.

 

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VFWT partners with Mvuthu villagers to tackle human-wildlife conflicts

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BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

The Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust (VFWT) has announced that they have secured funding to work with the communities of the new scheme of herding cattle, amid growing concerns of human-wildlife conflicts in the Mvuthu’s jurisdiction.

This was announced by the VFWT Community Liaison officer Bongani Dlodlo on Tuesday at a village assembly meeting in the Mvuthu area.

He said the scheme aims to reduce the continuous attack of the domestic animals, mainly the cattle by predators such as the lions.

 

The organisation will actively involved in various environmental issues in the area, including the introduction of mobile bomas years ago, making of chill dung to deter elephants among other rehabilitation projects.

“This will be a programme to run for three years, where we are going to create mobile kraals where the whole village, those who are willing will bring their cattle there and we will hire some willing community members above 22 years of age to look after them during the day and night,” Dlodlo said.

“We are trying to reduce the problem of your livestock getting killed and while under this scheme, we shall ensure that they get treated whenever they present some symptoms of not being well and we will also vaccinate and feed them so that they can increase the value in the market whenever you want to dispose of some of them.”

Dlodlo also added that this will be done throughout the year.

“During the off-cropping season, we will be rotating them from one field to the other so that we also mitigate the issue of poor soils this community is faced with. By this, we hope that even your yield will improve for these coming years.”

Although some at the meeting met with skepticism, Dlodlo insisted that the villagers were not under duress to let go of their cattle and that the preparatory planning and strategies to be adopted were going to be done together with the communities.

Fears were around the issue of religious beliefs around the rearing of livestock.

Other concerns were around the issue of having to walk long distances to milk cows and even having them to perform some day to day chores such as the fetching of firewood.

According to the Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers, cases of human-wildlife conflicts have been increasing since 2016 by over 216 percent and Mvuthu villagers have often paid the price without compensation.

Others also queried about what will happen if their livestock gets attacked while with the hired herders and Dlodlo responded: “We will not be paying for any compensation because ours to try and help this community, but because the herders and the place of herding will be chosen by you, we hope that this will be a holistic community project where you can always check on what is happening as we work together.”

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