Norton residents to get 9 000 stands
Paidamoyo Chipunza Senior Reporter—
Government will ensure that people allocated land in Mashlands and Grasslands farms in Norton will get their stands, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.
Addressing thousands of Zanu-PF supporters who attended yesterday’s star and final rally to garner support for Cde Ronald Chindedza for Saturday’s National Assembly by-elections, VP Mnangagwa said all agricultural land belonged to Government.
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“There are two farms which were mentioned by the (PC) political commissar (Cde Saviour Kasukuwere). Why were you waiting all along to take that land? Has anyone ever been arrested for taking land. You must take that land, but of course every land has its people. Land is taken procedurally. We do not want chaos, we want peaceful administration of land,” he said.
On Wednesday, Zanu-PF, through its youth secretary Cde Kudzai Chipanga unveiled 5 000 residential stands in Norton and promised that an additional 4 000 stands will be unveiled later.
VP Mnangagwa urged the Norton electorate to vote for the party’s candidate Cde Chindedza, who is contesting against Mr Temba Mliswa arguing that Zanu-PF was the party to vote for.
He said Zanu-PF was the party to vote for because it had people’s interests at heart as evidenced by its national projects such as Command Agriculture and the Presidential farming inputs scheme among others.
VP Mnangagwa said Command Agriculture had so far received overwhelming response from farmers in different parts of the country with Mashonaland Central province leading at 116 percent response rate.
Government expects to produce an estimated two million tonnes of maize under Command Agriculture from a total of 500 000 hectares of land across all provinces in the country. VP Mnangagwa said apart from maize farmers, Command Agriculture has also attracted the interest of cooking oil and flour producers.
On cooking oil, he said they have already calculated how much the country required annually and how much soya bean should be planted to meet the national consumption and were working on the flour figures.
“We have already calculated how much soya bean is required to produce an annual national consumption of cooking oil and we will do the same with wheat farmers,” said VP Mnangagwa. VP Mnangagwa said the produce from the Presidential Input Scheme would be a surplus to the national food requirements.You can see that Zanu-PF is concerned about people’s welfare. You can also see for yourselves who is in control. You must be seen to be voting for a party that is in control so that you are also part of the ruling party,” said VP Mnangagwa.
VP Mnangagwa condemned violence and urged people to vote peacefully. He castigated some acts of corruption by some MDC-T councillors in Norton saying they should stop suing residents for non-payment of bills when in fact they were also corruptly acquiring land from the council.
Earlier, Cde Kasukuwere who is also Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing had expressed concern over the administration of housing units at Mashlands and Grasslands farms.
“Some people were taking advantage of that land demanding that people pay $98 every month, but were not developing the land. We have taken that land and Urban Development Corporation (UDCORP) is going to work out the modalities,” said Minister Kasukuwere.
Minister Kasukuwere said there was need for Government to intervene and assist the dormitory town from its challenges which not only include inadequate accommodation, but also erratic water supplies. Several senior Government officials, war veterans and their leaders, Zanu-PF provincial and national representatives attended the rally.
The Norton seat fall vacant following the expulsion of Chris Mutsvangwa from the ruling party.
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