Kezi Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) district officer Rodney Mashingaidze was controversially allocated the farm last year. But the move was met with stiff resistance from the locals who argued that the farm, owned by Peter Cunningham, was their only source of income.
Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko toured the disputed farm at the weekend and held closed meetings with the local chiefs and the lands committee. After the meeting, Mphoko delegated the deputy president of the National Chiefs Council, Chief Vuyelwa Ndiweni Nyangazonke, to tell anxious villagers: “This farm is yours. Consultations have been made and government has agreed that no one should take it from you.”
The statement was greeted with much jubilation. “If Mashingaidze had been allowed to take over this farm, it would have been a disaster for people like myself who have been empowered by Cunningham to feed our families without begging for assistance from anyone else. In terms of empowering the locals, Cunningham has done far better than the government itself,” said Trust Ndlovu, who is part of a group called Beyond Belief, which runs a thriving poultry project in the area.
A local widow, Siphiwe Ndlovu, also survives on the poultry project. “Today I am the happiest person on earth .The farm’s take over had caused a lot of stress on me. How could the interest of one person override those of the whole community? Following this incident, I think government should revisit its policy on the land issue,” she said.
Post published in: News