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Cde Kudakwashe Bhasikiti

Masvingo Bureau
Government has finished relocating 2 700 families from Chingwizi holding camp to permanent plots pegged at Nuanetsi Ranch.
The villagers are part of the group that was affected by the Tokwe-Mukosi flooding.Government wants the flood victims to harvest their own crops next year and become self-reliant.

The relocation also exposed hundreds of families that came to the camp to benefit from free food handouts.

Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs, Cde Kudakwashe Bhasikiti, yesterday confirmed that all the people received pieces of land at Nuanetsi Ranch. Minister Bhasikiti alleged that the camp dwellers were victims of hooligans who held them hostage at Chingwizi.

“Over 2 700 families were successfully moved to permanent plots and we are now doing some mop-up on the ground to make sure everyone has been moved to the one-hectare plots where we want our people to prepare for the coming farming season.

“The arrest of some of the camp dwellers by police removed hooligans who were holding families hostage at the camp by forcing them to resist relocation,’’ he said.

Minister Bhasikiti took a dig at the chairman of the Tokwe-Mukosi village heads association, Mr Mike Mudyanembwa, for being part of a group allegedly forcing families to resist relocation.

However, Mr Mudyanembwa could not be reached for comment yesterday.

“We also discovered that some of the trouble-causers in the camp were not even bona fide flood victims.  They quickly sneaked out of the camp after realising that the net was closing in on them. We conducted an audit of all the registered flood victims as we moved them to permanent plots but we are very happy with the situation on the ground now and the families are also excited to have finally moved out of the overcrowded camp,’’ said Minister Bhasikiti. He appealed to development partners to help Government set up irrigation infrastructure for former Chingwizi camp dwellers.

Minister Bhasikiti said Government had already crafted an irrigation master plan that would see the development of irrigation infrastructure at the Nuanetsi Ranch to ensure the flood victims benefited from Tokwe-Mukosi Dam water.

“We have a budget of all the things that are required for irrigation at the Nuanetsi Ranch and we still appeal to NGOs to come and assist us because we want the relocated families to immediately start benefiting from irrigation.

“The irrigation has to be developed in phases, the first phase will see each family getting about 0,5 hectares for irrigation so that they grow their food while the second phase will see development of bigger hectarage under irrigation so that the families produce for commercial purposes,’’ said Minister Bhasikiti.

The World Food Programme is feeding the flood victims after unveiling an 800-tonne feeding scheme that ends at the end of next month.

Minister Bhasikiti said Government, through the Department of Social Welfare, would take over feeding of the families until after next harvest.

“We are also happy that there are at least three schools (two primary and one secondary) that are close to completion in the permanent plots while scores of boreholes were also sunk such that water is within one kilometre from every household,’’ he added.

Government was looking for investors to build shops at the permanent plots to benefit the villagers.

Minister Bhasikiti said Government was still committed to paying compensation amounting to US$9 million to the flood victims.

The flood victims were relocated from the Tokwe-Mukosi basin in March this year following incessant rains, which saw hundreds of homes and property being submerged in water.