President Robert Mugabe has been petitioned by Tokwe-Mukosi flood victims who accuse his government of abandoning them.
Staff Reporter
In a petition sent to Mugabe’s office on Wednesday, the villagers, who have since been moved to Nuanetsi ranch in Mwenezi, requested the veteran ruler to visit them so that he could see for himself the conditions at their new settlement.
“We write this urgent appeal to you on behalf of 20 000 victims of the Tokwe-Mukosi floods who have been dumped at Nuanetsi ranch in Mwenezi. We do not have food and we are facing starvation,” the petition read.
In 2013, more than 20 000 families were displaced from their homes by floods in the Tokwe-Mukosi basin.
The government relocated them to Nuanetsi ranch where it has been providing them with food hand-outs.
“We feel like people in prison.Your government is treating us like second-class citizens and as if we are people with no rights,” the petition read.
After relocating them to Nuanetsi, the government pledged to allocate them land for farming, but that promise, according to the petition, was yet to be fulfilled.
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“Your government has forced us to settle on Nuanetsi ranch this place is not suitable for people to live,” the petition added.
“despite promises, your government has failed to compensate many of us and allocate each family enough land (at least 5 hectares) for resettlement.
“Instead each family was allocated one hectare plot of land only,” the groups states in the petition.
“Your excellency, we ask you to come as soon as possible to Nuanetsi ranch to see for yourself the conditions we are living under.”
Since the disaster in 2013,Mugabe has not visited the area or the victims.
Instead, then Vice-President Joice Mujuru visited them on behalf of the government together with several ministers.
