THE government yesterday started forcibly removing villagers at Chingwizi camp to the one-hectare plots after police last weekend cordoned off the area following skirmishes that resulted in more than 300 of them being arrested.
TATENDA CHITAGU OWN CORRESPONDENT
Twenty-nine of those arrested were formally charged and appeared at the Chiredzi Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday where they complained of torture in police custody.
Vehicles from the Central Mechanical Equipment Department were reportedly used to transport the villagers to the new plots at the Naunetsi Ranch.
The villagers said the government was using the violence that broke out at the camp following police provocation as an excuse to forcibly relocate them without compensation.
“Finally, we are being moved by force. We are getting threats of being arrested,” said an affected villager.
He said the relocation of the clinic, which sparked the violence as the villagers blocked the move, was now complete and the villagers had realised that they could not survive without a clinic.
Masvingo Provincial Affairs minister Kudakwashe Bhasikiti’s phone continuously rang unanswered when Southern Eye contacted him for comment.
