• Chombo tells Tokwe victims relocate to resettlement plot without food or compensation

• Govt actually has no land to resettle the victims

• Villagers told plough 1 hectare of land first before getting the next meal
  
• Govt fails to pay a paltry $3,664

There was drama when poor Tokwe Mukosi villagers living at Chingwizi camp, vowed to fry President Robert Mugabe alive yesterday when his Minister of Local Government, Ignatius Chombo openly ignored their plight watching them go hungry and devastated while at the same time instructing them to go away.
Chombo’s instructions came as the 3000 survivors of a storm which destroyed 90% of all tent-shelters on Wednesday, were being ordered to work one hectare of land first before government gives them their next meal.

I have nine children and since the 11th March I have been given just 1kg of beans, a man in the video below narrated. “I sleep in the same tent with nine (9) children and since the 11th March I have been given just 1kg of beans for food. They have told me that if I want anything else I must first work on one hectare of land before I receive anything,” he said.
There was drama when in anger one woman openly said they are being forced to grow sugar-cane when they have no experience whatsoever of that business. “If it needs be we will remove Mugabe today,” the furious woman shouted.
 
No food, no compensation
But despite these concerns Minister Chombo said the victims should vacate the camp without any compensation, and the state owned Herald paper did not mention these complaints voiced by hundreds of victims who were also affected by the Wednesday storm. Minister Ignatius Chombo was yesterday however seen dismissing the devastated victims and telling them to vacate the camp with no compensation whatsoever.
He admitted government was failing to pay the families a paltry $3,664 per household saying this money would be paid when it has been found. The villagers should relocate and government will not provide any food for them, Chombo indicated.
“Every family will get its dues from Government once the funds have been mobilised and lack of compensation should not stop people from moving to permanent plots as there is a real high risk of outbreak of diseases such as typhoid because of overcrowding.
“We are going to give every family that has not been compensated a document acknowledging that they are owed money by Government. The amount owed was based on valuations done on their property will also be written on that document which should be produced for a family to get compensation when resources are eventually found,’’ he said.
Chombo warned that Government would not continue to provide food to families who resist moving to permanent plots.
This was after Chombo’s ministry claimed that some of the flood victims were now comfortable in the camp where they get free food handouts.
“Why should we continue to provide food to families who insist on staying in the camp when their plots to build permanent structures are ready? We should make it clear that food assistance will only be given to those families who agree to move to their permanent plots because, we need to de-congest Chingwizi temporary camp,’’ he said.
The minister stressed that Government wanted a modern resettlement model to be followed in settling the flood victims who should benefit from Tokwe-Mukosi Dam water.
Minister of State in Vice President Joice Mujuru’s Office Sylvester Nguni said it was important for the Tokwe-Mukosi relocation co-ordinating committee to ensure that genuine flood victims get plots for irrigation.
 
Government actually has no land to resettle the victims
But DARE party president Mr. Gilbert Dzikiti who visited the camp within hours of Chombo’s tour has found that government actually has no land to resettle the victims.
Mr Dzikiti told ZimEye : “Information on the events at Chingwizi says that the government actually has no land to resettle people. There are mainly two reasons to this:
1. The land down there has some mineral deposits (diamonds) and if ever people are settled there, they will have to be moved again to make way for mining activities.
2. The land was also earmarked for expansion of the ethanol project and the government has to agree with Billy on the terms of resettling people there. On Wednesday night there was a storm in the lowveld and information coming from there is that less than 10% of the tents survived the storms. The rest of the tents were torn including the ones covering food and medicines for the families at Chingwizi.
“We have been wondering whether the forced removal of people because of game parks was true and now information is suggesting the prevalence of diamonds at Tokwe Mukosi and Manzou in Mazoe.
“Why does the government need to beg an alleged thief like Billy Rautenbach as Temba Mliswa alleges? Why don’t the government compulsorily acquire the land for the national disaster?
“The people at Chingwizi have organised themselves but they do not have financial resources to go beyond what they can do at Chingwizi. Are we prepared to help these people, not only morally but financially and with our intellectual resources?,” said Dzikiti.

He added that:
“The local area MP is elusive and seems to have been gagged from speaking out on the issue of minerals and beneficiaries to the mines and share holders of both the game park and diamond concessions.”