Itai Muzondo
GWERU: Midlands Provincial leadership this week took time to go through work done towards assisting locals that have been affected by development induced developments.
During a meeting facilitated for by the Center for Conflict Management and Transformation (CCMT), local leaders confirmed that work to either compensate or to resolve boundary disputes was was ongoing and near completion in most districts.
“We have done most of the work in Shurugwi but we are still trying to come up with a way or should I say we are trying to see how best we can go about exhumations so that we resettle affected people in our district. We are having challenges identifying graves,” a representative from the district said.
“We are glad to say most paperwork of towards compensating those affected by establishment of a mine set up in Chirumhanzu is 90% complete.
“We are left with a few procedures and these involve engagements with relevant officers to where affected familes will be resettled and the company that is in charge of compensating affected families,” added a representative from Chirumhanzu.
“The process has been a little timeous but we must also acknowledge that it has been made easy by compensation guidelines provided through CCMT,” the representative added.
Some DIDs in mineral rich districts have also highlighted that they are drafting policies that will see co-existence with relation to mining claims and these include and not limited to mining underground rights.
CCMT is of the belief that development induced displacements are inevitable as the country moves towards various development agendas and modernisation.
They also argue that more development induced displacements are going to be witnessed but however argue that they must be handled in a manner that ‘…upholds human dignity, in a way that organised and in a way that is guided by standards,’ as put across by CCMT Board Member Dr Mxolisi Sillah.
He added, “Our model is that we intervene on an invitational basis. Hence, people in the Midlands province are the first to utilise our services and invite us to manage conflict around DIDs starting with the Gokwe issue where the focus was on the expansion of Gokwe town council into what is Gokwe rural.
“We also had the Muchakata issue where there is some form of modernization within rural areas and naturally, when you have such occurrences, you are likely to have displacements.”
Dr Sillah also said their programming has to date recorded some interesting successes.
“We also have our most revered agreement to date when it comes to DIDs being an agreement between the Bungwe community and Zimasco.
“It is very rare for a huge mining conglomerate to get down to the grassroots level and listen to needs and the grievances of the communities so we are proud to be facilitating such success stories,” he further said.
Local Governance Services director Charltone Murove however urged leaders in the province to be swift in resolving pending DID related issues saying words should be followed by action.
“We should be swift in resolving pending issues as a province. When we gather to set targets in such platforms, words should be followed by action,” Murove said.
Participants however called for exchange visits, among other issues, so that they are able to assist each other on how issues involving DIDs are being handled differently in diverse locales.
