The Minister of State Affairs and Devolution for Masvingo, Ezra Chadzamira has castigated opposition political leaders for allegedly misleading the nation on the Chilonga Lucerne grass project.
Recent reports indicate that the government allocated land belonging to the Shangaan/Tsonga communities in Chiredzi to a dairy company, Dendairy, for its grass project.
Addressing journalists on Thursday, Chadzamira insisted that the Chilonga villagers were consulted and were the biggest beneficiaries of the upcoming Dendairy project. He said:
The project has so many advantages but the problem is the opposition are the ones who are misguiding the villagers after reading the Statutory Instruments (SI) halfway so that they add confusion to the people.
Government engaged the chiefs, the headmen and all other stakeholders and they understood.
Chadzamira added that the area where the grass project will take place is sparsely populated and the affected families will not be move moved far away. He said:
The place that the Lucerne grass project is going to take place do not have many people and those few will not be moved far away from their residential areas and they are the first beneficiaries, they will also be allocated their pieces of land that will be tilled for Lucerne grass and food by the company.
Activists have been using social media platforms to urge members of the public to boycott Dendairy products because of the grass project.
Member of Parliament for Chiredzi West Constituency Farai Musikavanhu also accused the opposition of misleading the nation. He said:
Consultations were done and I can declare that as a resident within the community, I witnessed this happening and I attended some of the meetings as their political representative.
Those that are against the relocation need to be read the Statutory Instrument in full and the villagers are fully covered by the law from communal to commercial use of the land so they are de facto covered in the process of benefitting.
It’s very unfortunate that the opposition turns to put a negative narrative to all developmental projects and demonise vision 2030.