VILLAGERS from Binga’s Lubimbi area say they are living in distress and uncertainty after the government failed to produce a master plan for their proposed relocation site, years after they were earmarked for displacement to make way for the Gwayi-Shangani Dam project.
The community claims the delay has left more than 500 families in limbo, with no clarity on where they will be resettled, what compensation they will receive, or when the move will take place even as the multi-billion-dollar dam nears completion.
The Gwayi-Shangani dam is part of the greater Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project, first mooted in 1912 as a long-term solution to the perennial water shortages facing Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South and Bulawayo provinces.
Construction finally began in September 2004, but the project has been plagued by multiple missed deadlines and funding shortfalls over two decades.
The dam wall was 70.2% complete as of April 2025, with 39 metres of the planned 72-metre structure built.
The government now projects completion in 2027, with President Emmerson Mnangagwa directing that US$5 million be availed monthly until the project is finalised.
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Once completed, Lake Gwayi-Shangani will be the third-largest inland water reservoir in Zimbabwe.
The project includes a 245km water pipeline to Bulawayo, a development that will also result in hundreds of families along the pipeline route being relocated.
This is not the first time Lubimbi villagers have been uprooted for a government project.
They were initially relocated from the Madilo area between the Shangani and Kana rivers in 1945 to create space for a Cold Storage Company project.
Many of the affected families were also previously displaced during the construction of the Kariba Dam in the 1950s.
Now, approximately 502 families are once again facing displacement, this time from the Gwayi-Shangani catchment area.
The government has indicated that villagers will be moved back to the Kanondo area in Lupane under Chief Mabhikwa, where they lived before white settlers displaced them during the colonial era.
One villager from Lubimbi 2 in the Chiboni area said uncertainty was fuelling fear.
Ward 20 councillor Jealous Mumpande told Southern Eye on Sunday that he has not been given the master plan that residents have been requesting.
"I recently travelled for a meeting with the hope that I was going to get the master plan after the meeting at the town council, but to no avail," Mumpande said.
“Residents have been requesting these for clarification purposes as they are now losing hope since the dam is nearing completion.”
Mumpande said the community was facing many challenges.
"We have a local clinic called Lubimbi Clinic, but it's now dilapidated. Its walls are cracking, and the nurses are crying foul over the fact that they have no accommodation," he said.
He said residents have started constructing metal housing structures in the wetland area.
"People have started building houses in water, and honestly speaking, it's just a sad situation here,” he noted.
“We are confused and hopeless as to what we can do because nothing shows that we are going to be relocated anytime soon.”
Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs minister Richard Moyo said residents should not be worried because the master plan is already in place.
"The master plan was released three months back; it's there at the Physical Planning Department," Moyo said.
However, Moyo said they have not yet scheduled a date for the meeting.
"I am not really sure when we will go there, but soon enough. And like I said, we are still yet to meet up with the ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development," he said.
The government had previously estimated that more than US$2 million would be needed for the relocation exercise and compensation for the affected villagers.
In 2022, the government said it would build modern four-roomed houses for each affected family under a "build back better model".
However, funding has been a persistent challenge, with authorities indicating in early 2024 that the budget for infrastructure development including boreholes, houses and schools had been sent to the Treasury and was awaiting release.
The uncertainty over graves is particularly emotive.
Villagers have expressed deep anxiety about what will happen to their ancestors' remains at the Lubimbi cemetery.
During consultations in 2023, community leaders urged the government to address cultural issues, noting that some community members had already lost relatives during the Kariba dam displacement and feared a repeat.