I write with a heavy heart and a deep sense of anguish on behalf of the villagers of Mutombwera and Dambanavana in Chihota, Mashonaland East, whose ancestral land is being quietly sold behind our backs while those entrusted to protect it look the other way or worse, lead the betrayal.
Tribal trust land is not a commodity. It is the soil that holds the bones of our forefathers, the grazing fields that sustain our cattle and the cultural space where our identity has been shaped over generations.
Yet today, this sacred inheritance is being parcelled out for personal gain by headmen who have abandoned their duty in exchange for money.
We know every Zimbabwean belongs to a certain village somewhere and for us, is it a crime to find ourselves closer to the city?
Some people no longer work for their families and land sale has become their main hustle.
We know in this country some of these things are done due to political expediency, but for once, can the authorities act and protect our legacy.
The second republic has harboured corruption to extreme levels.
During the Mugabe era our villages were respected, we never had such, we lived in harmony and we could converge as clans to discuss important issues that concern us.
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We also hear that Marondera RDC is making rounds threatening to turn our villages into peri-urban areas.
We also hear they are forcing these buyers to pay huge sums of money to regularise their stay. Why is this happening?
We all celebrated when independence came in 1980, but we are back to regretting it again.
Can authorities act or communicate if we own anything in this country!!
Strangers are being brought in from distant villages and settled without the knowledge or consent of the community.
With every illegal sale, the fragile fabric of our cultural cohesion is torn further apart.
Long-standing customs that once governed land use, grazing and settlement are now ignored, replaced by handwritten agreements and whispered deals made in the dark.
The consequences are devastating. Communal grazing land is disappearing, forcing cattle into shrinking spaces and igniting conflicts where there was once harmony.
Families are now fighting among themselves as those who sold their own land begin selling land that does not belong to them.
Brothers are turning against brothers. Neighbours who once shared harvests now face each other with suspicion and anger.
What pains us most is the silence of authority in the face of this slow violence.
Headmen who should be custodians of the land have become merchants of it.
Traditional leadership is losing its moral standing, and with it, the respect that binds our communities together.
Children are growing up watching greed triumph over tradition.
Elders weep as they see burial grounds threatened and sacred spaces marked with pegs and strings.
The land that once united us is now the source of fear, tension and heartbreak.
We appeal, urgently and desperately, to the relevant authorities, anti-corruption agencies and traditional leadership oversight structures: intervene now.
Investigate these illegal land sales. Hold corrupt headmen accountable. Protect what remains of our communal land before it is too late.
If this continues unchecked, Mutombwera and Dambanavana will not only lose land, we will lose our identity, our peace and our future.
This is a cry from the villages. Please hear us before silence becomes permanent.
Yours faithfully,
A concerned resident of Chihota
