Factory
chairperson, Miriro Munhanga said the factory, established in 2000 to empower
women through skills training, only operated for a few years before becoming
defunct.
However, former
members of the soap-making project claim to have been denied access to the
facility, which has reportedly been allocated to someone else.
“We used to
produce soap during the first few years after the project started. Though the
project collapsed due to some challenges, we wanted to revive it. But now the
land and the building are no longer accessible to us, as the village head gave
it to someone else,” said Munhanga.
Contacted for
comment by TellZim News, village head, Kumbirai Majaya Chisi, said he was not
blocking any development in the village.
“I’m not
stopping anyone from using the soap factory, but it was inactive for years. So
I gave the land to someone else who is now using it productively,” said Chisi.
Chisi said the
factory was initially funded by Gladmore Charamba as a community empowerment
initiative for his mother who is now late and said he enquired from the funders
if they wanted to continue so he would give them another piece of land.
“The so called
factory was funded by Charamba who said he was doing the project for his mother
and the community was benefiting from it.
“I approached
him to check if he wanted to continue funding the project so that I can give
them another piece of land to do their project. He said he only wanted roofing
sheets from the building and nothing more,” said Chisi.
However, at the
center of the matter was a row over the village leadership where Chisi is
fighting for control with one Jevas Ruvanda who once presided over the area.
Ruvanda who is
a nephew to Chisi is said to have been asked to rue the village while Chisi was
still young, but later refused to relinquish power when Chisi came of age. The
matter was taken to court multiple times, including an appeal to the High
Court, which ruled in favor of Chisi.
Chisi’s legal
representative from Ruvengo and Maboke Legal Practitioners, Collen Maboke told
TellZim News that the case was still open as Ruvanda was not giving in to the
court ruling.
“Ruvanda could
not easily surrender authority over the village which was given to him when
Chisi was young. He later denied targeting of Majaya village being divided so
that he can get his part and call it Mutema village.
“Ruvanda lost
the case and was even sentenced to six months in jail for defying a court
order. Though the sentence was initially suspended, he later served the term
for continued violations. The file of this case is not closed since Ruvanda
does not comply with the ruling of court of law,” said Maboke. TellZimNews
0 comments:
Post a Comment