Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) chief executive officer Morris Mpofu yesterday said he had deployed a team to Arda Transau in Manicaland to assess the state of the 300 houses built for the displaced villagers, amid fears that some of the houses were substandard and could collapse this rain season.
BY KENNETH NYANGANI
NewsDay is reliably informed the Arda Transau villagers who were relocated from Marange to pave way for diamond mining were living in fear as their houses had developed cracks.
“We have officials who are on the ground to assess the situation. Yes, they were relocated, but we are also supposed to look after them and that they live comfortably. It’s part of our corporate social responsibility to help them,’’ he said.
Mpofu added: “We want to help them more. We are not only looking into the issue of their homes, but we are going to do more as part of our social responsibility.’’
Matthew Mundondo, who was hired to carry out exhumation and reburial of the villagers’ deceased relatives, claimed that some of the houses were substandard. “Those houses in Arda Transau are facing collapse and they need to be renovated because I inspected the houses and in this rain season we are going to see a disaster if they are not renovated.
‘’Those houses are sub-standard and they were built with sub-standard materials, most of the houses have cracks. I am blaming fellow black people, especially politicians for blowing money which was meant to build decent houses. I want to thank Morris Mpofu for the work he is doing because every week he is correcting past mistakes and he is doing great work,” he said.
