With only five of the 30 commercial farms in the area still in operation, the high-ranking Zanu (PF) officials who benefited from the controversial land re-distribution exercise are not maintaining the services that were once on offer.
The Central Intelligence Organisation boss, Happitone Bonyongwa, is the new owner of Brooklyn Farm, while Michael Nyambuya, the former Manicaland Governor and Mike Madiro, the Zanu (PF) provincial chairman also now own land in the area.
The workers who were displaced during the land re-distribution now scrape by on seasonal work or try their hand at illegal diamond panning at Marange.
Timothy Muchedzi, one of the resettled farmers, is hardly producing anything on his farm. He is HIV positive and hardly has the energy to carry out work on his plot. Although he receives free medication from the clinic in Odzi, he regularly contracts infections due to his poor nutritional diet.
“Things are not well here. There are no health facilities to talk about and many people are suffering. The clinic that was near the farm no longer exists and people have to walk long distances to the nearest clinic in Odzi, which is about 15km,” said Muchedzi.
The Zimbabwe Rural Projects Centre works hard to care for those living with HIV and AIDS.
“We have not been able to raise funds to provide our home-based care patients with food and it is a problem for many of them to take medication when they do not have a balanced diet,” said Tendai Mwanjiri, the Director of ZRDC.
Another resettled farmer’s daughter said the government was neglecting farming communities.
“We feel neglected by the government. It has been failing to provide us with proper medical care. The NGOs that have been helping us have been chased away by Zanu (PF). I was receiving ARVs from the NGOs but when they stopped operating in our area, I had to travel to Mutare Provincial hospital,” she said.
The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare used to run a national Farm Health Programme where it trained community members to provide basic health services, but the programme has been stopped.
Henry Madzorera, the Minister of Health and Child Welfare regretted the dormancy of the FHP but added that his ministry was planning to provide mobile health clinics in marginalised communities.
“Eventually, we should have a clinic within a five km radius of every settlement,” he said.
Post published in: News