Mutare DA accused of “extorting” displaced villagers

The Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) and Chiadzwa Community Development Trust (CCDT) said in a statement that Sigauke ordered the over 1,400 villagers to pay the money for continued use of the half hectare plots they received when they were displaced from Marange to make way for diamond mining in 2010.

The displaced families were promised vast tracts of land at Arda Transau before the displacement but government later reneged on this promise.

The mining companies, in which government holds 50 percent shareholding except in Marange Resources in which it has a 100 percent ownership, have failed to compensate their victims but there is talk of merging the firms into one company.

“(On September 23) the DA told villagers ‘the honeymoon is over, the manna has ceased’. He also threatened a woman he accused of working with Chiadzwa Community Development Trust, a community based organization that has for years been the voice of the traumatized community.

“The DA reportedly warned her that she would die in prison if she continued mobilising the community to demand redress from the authorities. Centre for Natural Resources Governance and Chiadzwa Community Development Trust condemns in the strongest terms the unwarranted threats issued by the DA against an innocent woman whose only crime is to demand justice for herself and her community,” read the joint statement.

Added the two watchdogs: “We further condemn the unjust and grossly unreasonable demand for payment by Cosmas Sigauke from victims of Marange diamond mining. This comes at a time CNRG and CCDT have been calling on the government to address the land shortage at Arda Transau which has created perpetual food insecurity among the displaced families.”

They appealed to President Robert Mugabe to intervene and stop the further harassment and victimisation of the Marange community.

“It is our firm view and belief that Sigauke’s actions contradicts the publicly stated government position on land reform. CNRG and CCDT call on the displaced families to refuse the demand for payment from Sigauke and continue to utilise the land for their subsistence,” said CNRG and CCDT.