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Walter Mswazie in Masvingo
Village heads in Sika, Masvingo West, have come under fire for allegedly parcelling out land to illegal settlers.

This comes in the wake of reports that over 1 000 villagers at Mzora Farm in Sikato area have been served with eviction notices by Government.

Chief Mugabe (Matubede Mudavanhu) alleged that some village heads in his area were illegally settling people on State land in exchange for money.

“It has come to my attention that there are some village heads in Sikato who are illegally settling people,” said Chief Mugabe.

He said while village heads had a right to apportion land they were supposed to observe the Constitution on issues to do with State land.

“Land is allocated according to the Constitution and that should be followed.

“No one is expected to apportion land without following procedures like in this case we expect the relevant Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Climate, Water and Rural Resettlement,” he said.

Meanwhile, Masvingo District Administrator Mr Roy Hove said the notices of eviction served to illegal settlers in the area still stood and affected villagers were expected to leave.

“As Government, we reiterate that the notices of eviction still stand and we expect those affected to vacate,” said Mr Hove.