CHIREDZI West MP, Farai Musikavanhu (Zanu PF) has torched a storm after he commented on behalf of two other legislators with regards to the controversial lucerne grass project in the Chilonga area of Chiredzi.
This was after Musikavanhu commented on behalf of other
Members of Parliament, overriding Denford Masiya (Chiredzi East, Zanu PF) and
Callisto Gwanetsa (Chiredzi South, Zanu PF).
The project is likely to displace over 12 000 villagers in
Chilonga after government on February 26 promulgated Statutory Instrument (SI)
50 of 2021, ordering the villagers to vacate their ancestral land to pave way
for the project by Dendairy, a company based in Kwekwe.
Musikavanhu defended government’s interests in the lucerne
project, in a video that went viral. His comments were said to be misleading.
“Consultations were done. We saw it and gave thanks as the
political leadership.
“Those people (villagers) by virtue of being communal people
— they are de facto covered in the process of benefiting from the lucerne
project,” Musikavanhu, who is also the ruling party’s provincial secretary for
finance, said in a bid to buttress Masvingo Provincial Affairs minister Ezra
Chadzamira’s earlier statement on the fate of the villagers.
Clause 3 of SI 50 of 2021 reads: “Any person occupying or using the land
specified in the schedule, is ordered to depart permanently with all of his or
her property from the said land by the date of publication of this notice,
unless he or she acquires rights of use or occupation to the said land in terms
of section 9(1) of the Communal Land Act [Chapter 20:04].”
Government has since watered down the eviction order by
deleting controversial clauses, assuring the villagers that a few of them will
be displaced by the project.
Exiled former Tourism minister Walter Mzembi then tweeted,
saying Musikavanhu’s comments could be a manifestation of factional politics
within Zanu PF as he was commenting on behalf of other MPs, yet his
constituency was not affected by the grass project.
Mzembi said Musikavanhu was actually supporting the
eviction of his rivals’ voters. “Strange that being from a different
constituency, he (Musikavanhu), supports the eviction of voters for his rivals,
Gwanetsa and Masiya. Factional politics is at play,” Mzembi tweeted.
Information permanent secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana then
claimed that the two constituencies which were to be affected by the grass
project voted for Musikavanhu.
Mangwana tweeted: “The people of Chiredzi West (where
Chilonga is located) elected a representative to promote and protect their
interests. Their legislator is Farai Musikavanhu who in this clip weighs in to
give his support to the lucerne project which he says is good for his
community.”
However, Mangwana later realised that he had made a grave
mistake and apologised, but his comments had already been seen by analysts who
claimed it was Zanu PF factionalism at play.
SI 50 of 2021 in clause 3 also refers to the Mines and
Minerals Act chapter 21:05, which has left may wondering if there are minerals
on the land earmarked for the lucerne project. Newsday
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