BY KENNETH NYANGANI
Twenty four families in Mutare are set to be evicted from land they have been staying for almost 30 years to pave way for Chinese investors who are into brickmoulding.
Council spokesperson Sprein Mutiwi confirmed the development to NewsDay yesterday.
“The families are former employees of the previous lease holder and they had no right to continue staying at the premises since the company ceased operations 10 years ago,” he said “The families have been served with three months eviction notices in line with the requirements and they should vacate by April.
Mutiwi said the investors were both Zimbabwean and Chinese.
“They are bringing an investment which will address issues of bricks in line with Cyclone Idai disaster (response) under which council banned the use of farm bricks,” he said.
“The new investor is bringing structurally strong bricks – a business venture which is in line with urban resilience and disaster-risk management.
“Engagement with the families was done to advise them of the need to look for alternative accommodation. So we engaged them first before serving them with three months eviction notices.”
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
The families have since approached human rights lawyer Brian Majamanda to challenge the eviction.
Majamanda confirmed that the families were given the three months eviction notices on January 17.
“They have just approached my office and I will update you later over the matter,” he said One of the affected people, Munashe Munyoro said: “White farmers used to stay at this farm long ago. The farmers left the country some time ago so after their departure, the piece of land was interchangeably used by some businesspersons in Mutare for their various projects.”
“We continued to stay on that land and worked for whoever would be using that land for that specific time,” he added.
Munyoro, however, acknowledged that they have no documentation to claim ownership of the land.
