The drama continues to unfold between Chisumbanje villagers and Macdom Investments, owners of the multi-million dollar ethanol plant, as consultation meetings fail to break the deadlock.
The company, through their Human Resources Manager, Zuze agreed that they were responsible for the destruction of crops belonging to the residents since 2008.
“We are consulting with Agritex to establish the value of the destroyed crops so that we can start compensation,” said Zuze at the meeting on August 18.
More than 1,000 villagers including Chief Garahwa, Headmen Chisumbanje, Chinyamukwakwa and Matikwa attended.
In response to Zuze’s admission, a resolution was made by the villagers that there would be no talks with ARDA concerning the land issue until compensation had been paid.
The villagers have since refuted instructions by the company spoken through J.C Mundoma, the Chief Executive Officer of ARDA Chipinge, who organised dates for the community to meet the company at their fields to establish their land rights. The villagers refused to respond to Mundoma who they accused of failing to communicate the details of the meetings.
When Mundoma insisted that the project was irreversible because the government’s interests trumped those of the community, the villagers were outraged and demanded that a new negotiating team be established to resolve the issue.
A third resolution was made that the Platform for Youth Development Trust would remain the representative of the Chisumbanje, Chinyamukwakwa and Matikwa communities in resolving the land dispute with Macdom.
Macdom management have been accused of failing to respect the community, using hate speech and political rhetoric to intimidate villagers and producing fliers that question the motivation of PYD Director, Claris Madhuku, and community strongman, Wedzerai Gwenzi.
“The community will do everything peaceful to demand their rights against the imposition of development. The community has no problem with the plant operating within the 5 112 hectares where there is no conflict, the problem comes when they start operating illegally by encroaching into the community before there is a binding agreement” said Madhuku.
A court application is being pursued by the villagers as a means of showing ARDA that the community is committed to pursuing justice. However, PYD announced that there were other methods that they would be pursuing too. These involve finding ways to highlight how ARDA has failed to offer employment for the local people, as well as using discriminatory labour policies that do not protect the rights of the workers.
It was understood that when Macdom Pvt Ltd entered into the agreement, it was believed that ARDA would provide the 45 000 hectares but it was latter realized that the ARDA only had 5 112 hectares hence the decision to displace villagers to secure the deficit. PYT have said that the community is not against the project, but they have issues with the manner in which Macdom and ARDA are going about it.
When contacted for comment, a Macdom representative referred all communication to a community consultative forum called the Joint Ethanol Project Implementation Committee which is handling all communication relating to the issue of land. JEPAC has an immediate mandate to develop a sustainable irrigation model for the affected dry land farmers so that their livelihoods are maintained or improved.
It argued that since the implementation of the ethanol project, five commercial banks have moved into the area, there is a demand for commercial land development at Checheche which informs of potential for a wider revenue base for the council, more than 5000 jobs have been created for the benefit of the locals in both the agricultural and artisan dimensions of the project; a new irrigation scheme has been developed at Chisumbanje as part of the 4000 hectare irrigation land for the community to cater for more than 600 households affected by this year’s land development while more than 650 hectares have been developed and cropped with cane and handed over to 241 households as part of the commercial out grower scheme.
In response to the land debate, JEPAC insist that, “The land designated for the ethanol project at Chisumbanje was identified for commercial irrigation driven investment as early as in the 1960s. To this effect demarcations were carried out and the community around this area have always been aware of this background. On this basis, there is no human settlement within the designated zone.”
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