Farmers in Zimbabwe are being displaced to make way for a new ethanol power plant that may be breaking indigenisation laws and government land policy.
Harare, Zimbabwe:
For the Chisumbanje people of Chipinge, southeast Zimbabwe, cotton farming has been their lifeblood for decades. But now they are being displaced to make way for the construction of a giant ethanol plant backed by a controversial businessman who has been on international sanctions lists.
While it is claimed the ethanol plant will bring thousands of jobs and generate massive amounts of power for the national grid, the displaced Chisumbanje farmers - some of whom have left the country - are questioning what benefits they will see, and a civil society group is arguing the 2008 deal breaches the law on indigenous peoples' ownership rights.
Controversial deal
The US$600 million project is spearheaded by Macdom Pvt (Ltd) in partnership with the government of Zimbabwe’s Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (ARDA). When fully operational, the plant is tipped to be one of the largest ethanol plants in Africa and will generate enough electricity to power most parts of Manicaland province. Indeed, it is claimed that if the plant can reach its originally intended output of 100 million litres of ethanol per annum, it will supply some 20% of the country's total power supply.
The government entered into the land deal with controversial businessman Billy Rautenbach and his companies Macdom Pvt (Ltd) and Ratings Investment. Rautenbach is a multi-millionaire, well known for his aggressive and ruthless business tactics. He is also closely linked to President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF. He was added to the EU targeted sanctions list in January 2008, and the US targeted sanctions list towards the end of 2008 for his alleged support of the former ruling regime. It is alleged Mugabe often returns favours to Rautenbach by granting him lucrative resource deals, such as the Chisumbanje project.
Displacement
While thus far some 5,000 hectares of land have already been bought by Macdom and are being used to grow sugarcane to supply the plant, the firm is set to displace thousands more families by purchasing another 40,000 hectares of land from the communal farmers. About 300,000 families will be displaced in the Chisumbanje area if the land is acquired. Some villagers who have already lost land have left the country.
Chisumbanje villager Gwenzi Wedzerai told Radio VOP that at present the company was growing sugarcane on 5,112 hectares of land and would want to acquire more land so that it would be able to produce 80,000 kilolitres of ethanol per day. Wedzerai said villagers in Chisumbanje felt cheated by the company.
“We thought this project was going to bring relief to the people of Chisumbanje but it’s actually displacing them,” said Wedzerai. More than 83 families from the Rimayi and Chinyamukwakwa villages in Chisumbanje have relocated to neighbhouring Mozambique after the company encroached into communal plots and ploughed down people’s crops.
In an interview on August 1 2011, Prosper Mutseyami (MDC), the House of Assembly representative for Musikavanhu constituency - which includes Chisumbanje - revealed that “only a few villagers were given a paltry US$1,000 each as compensation for their land. Some are still waiting for compensation which they were promised, but nothing is coming out yet.”
Early last month Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai visited the plant and came face-to-face with villagers who said they had lost land to the project. Tsvangirai said there must be a balance between investment concerns and the land they claim to have lost. However, he refused to stop the project, and is approving further demolitions and calling for a taskforce to be established to tackle the issues.
Who benefits?
Youth pressure group Platform for Youth Development Trust (PYDT) said it was against the ethanol project as it was depriving Chisumbanje villagers of their land.
“We have lost thousands of hectares of land to this project since it started in 2008," said PYDT director, Claris Madhuku. "We are cotton farmers, but this company is asking us to be sugarcane farmers. We are not against development or any investment in the area but we are concerned that we will not get fair compensation.
"The community is afraid that it might lose more land in the development of the ethanol project and wants fair compensation. We have been trying to find how the community is going to benefit.”
Although villagers are disgruntled, the Agricultural Rural Development Authority (ARDA) maintains that the villagers’ fears are unfounded because most of the land occupied by the project has been lying idle for years. “Everything that we have been doing in Chisumbanje has been out of consensus with the villagers, but maybe out of 10 villagers you get two who say something. I think we need to meet and sit down and talk about it,” ARDA chairman Basil Nyabadza said.
Breaking the rules
The PYDT said the Chisumbanje land dispute contradicts both government land and indigenisation policies.
“The problem stems from the fact that the people were not consulted and therefore have a lot of fears that remains unaddressed," Madhuku said.
"ARDA Chisumbanje and the Chipinge rural district council issue contradictory statements about the nature of the land deal that seeks to displace the people. The villagers want Macdom to occupy the only land designated to ARDA as opposed to arbitrarily occupying 40,000 hectares of land that is not agreed upon.
"The land in Chisumbanje is communal and an inherited natural resource since the settler regime. The villagers see problems in this deal for it dangerously counters the objectives of egalitarianism. The land policy is supposed to eliminate the exploitation and monopoly of capitalist agriculture. On the other hand, the indigenisation policy is purported to benefit the local community as opposed to commodification,” Madhuku said.
Madhuku also said the Ethanol plant project presents a serious threat to the livelihood of the people.
“Promises of employment and the production of 120 megawatts of electricity have failed to dissolve the many questions asked by the community. What are the environmental consequences of this project? And, even more, the social and cultural connotations?”
The communal farmers, who have been custodians of their land since the settler regime in the early 1900s, accuse the partners introduced by ARDA of being invaders and land-grabbers bent on displacing the people from their fertile land without adequate compensation. This misunderstanding has led to unpalatable episodes where villagers allege their land was destroyed by the company.
While it is yet to be seen if the plant will meet projected power-outputs, the Chisumbanje farmers are being stripped of their livelihoods in a situation that mirrors land grabs seen in other African countries. Sweetened by promises of relief and development but yet to see compensation for their displacement, they will be left to ask if they will ever see the benefits of a project that will line the pockets of a chosen few.
For the Chisumbanje people of Chipinge, southeast Zimbabwe, cotton farming has been their lifeblood for decades. But now they are being displaced to make way for the construction of a giant ethanol plant backed by a controversial businessman who has been on international sanctions lists.
While it is claimed the ethanol plant will bring thousands of jobs and generate massive amounts of power for the national grid, the displaced Chisumbanje farmers - some of whom have left the country - are questioning what benefits they will see, and a civil society group is arguing the 2008 deal breaches the law on indigenous peoples' ownership rights.
Controversial deal
The US$600 million project is spearheaded by Macdom Pvt (Ltd) in partnership with the government of Zimbabwe’s Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (ARDA). When fully operational, the plant is tipped to be one of the largest ethanol plants in Africa and will generate enough electricity to power most parts of Manicaland province. Indeed, it is claimed that if the plant can reach its originally intended output of 100 million litres of ethanol per annum, it will supply some 20% of the country's total power supply.
The government entered into the land deal with controversial businessman Billy Rautenbach and his companies Macdom Pvt (Ltd) and Ratings Investment. Rautenbach is a multi-millionaire, well known for his aggressive and ruthless business tactics. He is also closely linked to President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF. He was added to the EU targeted sanctions list in January 2008, and the US targeted sanctions list towards the end of 2008 for his alleged support of the former ruling regime. It is alleged Mugabe often returns favours to Rautenbach by granting him lucrative resource deals, such as the Chisumbanje project.
Displacement
While thus far some 5,000 hectares of land have already been bought by Macdom and are being used to grow sugarcane to supply the plant, the firm is set to displace thousands more families by purchasing another 40,000 hectares of land from the communal farmers. About 300,000 families will be displaced in the Chisumbanje area if the land is acquired. Some villagers who have already lost land have left the country.
Chisumbanje villager Gwenzi Wedzerai told Radio VOP that at present the company was growing sugarcane on 5,112 hectares of land and would want to acquire more land so that it would be able to produce 80,000 kilolitres of ethanol per day. Wedzerai said villagers in Chisumbanje felt cheated by the company.
“We thought this project was going to bring relief to the people of Chisumbanje but it’s actually displacing them,” said Wedzerai. More than 83 families from the Rimayi and Chinyamukwakwa villages in Chisumbanje have relocated to neighbhouring Mozambique after the company encroached into communal plots and ploughed down people’s crops.
In an interview on August 1 2011, Prosper Mutseyami (MDC), the House of Assembly representative for Musikavanhu constituency - which includes Chisumbanje - revealed that “only a few villagers were given a paltry US$1,000 each as compensation for their land. Some are still waiting for compensation which they were promised, but nothing is coming out yet.”
Early last month Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai visited the plant and came face-to-face with villagers who said they had lost land to the project. Tsvangirai said there must be a balance between investment concerns and the land they claim to have lost. However, he refused to stop the project, and is approving further demolitions and calling for a taskforce to be established to tackle the issues.
Who benefits?
Youth pressure group Platform for Youth Development Trust (PYDT) said it was against the ethanol project as it was depriving Chisumbanje villagers of their land.
“We have lost thousands of hectares of land to this project since it started in 2008," said PYDT director, Claris Madhuku. "We are cotton farmers, but this company is asking us to be sugarcane farmers. We are not against development or any investment in the area but we are concerned that we will not get fair compensation.
"The community is afraid that it might lose more land in the development of the ethanol project and wants fair compensation. We have been trying to find how the community is going to benefit.”
Although villagers are disgruntled, the Agricultural Rural Development Authority (ARDA) maintains that the villagers’ fears are unfounded because most of the land occupied by the project has been lying idle for years. “Everything that we have been doing in Chisumbanje has been out of consensus with the villagers, but maybe out of 10 villagers you get two who say something. I think we need to meet and sit down and talk about it,” ARDA chairman Basil Nyabadza said.
Breaking the rules
The PYDT said the Chisumbanje land dispute contradicts both government land and indigenisation policies.
“The problem stems from the fact that the people were not consulted and therefore have a lot of fears that remains unaddressed," Madhuku said.
"ARDA Chisumbanje and the Chipinge rural district council issue contradictory statements about the nature of the land deal that seeks to displace the people. The villagers want Macdom to occupy the only land designated to ARDA as opposed to arbitrarily occupying 40,000 hectares of land that is not agreed upon.
"The land in Chisumbanje is communal and an inherited natural resource since the settler regime. The villagers see problems in this deal for it dangerously counters the objectives of egalitarianism. The land policy is supposed to eliminate the exploitation and monopoly of capitalist agriculture. On the other hand, the indigenisation policy is purported to benefit the local community as opposed to commodification,” Madhuku said.
Madhuku also said the Ethanol plant project presents a serious threat to the livelihood of the people.
“Promises of employment and the production of 120 megawatts of electricity have failed to dissolve the many questions asked by the community. What are the environmental consequences of this project? And, even more, the social and cultural connotations?”
The communal farmers, who have been custodians of their land since the settler regime in the early 1900s, accuse the partners introduced by ARDA of being invaders and land-grabbers bent on displacing the people from their fertile land without adequate compensation. This misunderstanding has led to unpalatable episodes where villagers allege their land was destroyed by the company.
While it is yet to be seen if the plant will meet projected power-outputs, the Chisumbanje farmers are being stripped of their livelihoods in a situation that mirrors land grabs seen in other African countries. Sweetened by promises of relief and development but yet to see compensation for their displacement, they will be left to ask if they will ever see the benefits of a project that will line the pockets of a chosen few.
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