Zimpapers Logo

From Noah Pito in Hurungwe

Sixty families illegally settled in the Chewore-Mkwichi Communal Area Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (campfire) buffer zone in Chief Chundu’s area, risk eviction from the game area after Hurungwe Rural District Council took them to the High Court recently.Council chairman Mr Tichaona Matthew, said summons had since been served to the affected families over council’s bid for their eviction from the game area. He also added that most of the affected families were not into any meaningful farming owing to the terrain of the area but were after poaching game and gold panning.

“Previously, the buffer zone used to be a seven kilometre zone between the communal area and the national parks area. Sometime this year we adjusted the boundaries by three kilometres so as to regularise settlements that had encroached into the buffer zone. Effectively, it means we had to shrink the buffer zone to a 4km-wide area from the initial 7km width.’’

This means that all families in the new 4km-buffer zone must move back into the 3km zone demarcated for settlements. It is moving back into this demarcated area that has sparked a tiff between council and the illegal settlers.

They are resisting to move back with some of them even continuing to erect new homes in the prohibited zone.

“Some village heads have been fingered in this ‘illegal resettlement programme’. Most of the villagers causing problems are known hunters and gold panners who are being given the go ahead by some village heads,” he explained.

HRDC chief executive Mr Joram Moyo, also accused some village heads whom he said were receiving bribes before parcelling out the pieces of land to the illegal settlers.

“The problem lies on some village heads who receive bribes before allocating the land. However, the new settlement area created by shrinking the previous buffer zone boundaries is quite enough to accommodate all the affected families,” said Mr Moyo.

However, a village head in the Mayamba area in Chief Chundu’s area who preferred anonymity, said it was cruel to remove the illegal settlers from the game area, particularly at this time when the rains were about to fall.

“They must have done this long back not this time. Imagine how hard it is to start building a home when it is raining. Moreover, there are some people who had stayed in those areas for five or more who also went to the extent of burying their beloved ones there with the conviction that they had built permanent homes,” he said.