THE Hwange Rural District Council has reversed its plans to evict villagers in the Ndlovu area on the outskirts of Victoria Falls to pave way for the construction of a satellite town after the villagers resisted the move and threatened to sue the local authority.
by NQOBANI NDLOVU Villagers in Ndlovu faced eviction after the council reportedly allocated vast tracts of land to the Gushungo Robert Mugabe Housing Co-operative to turn the village into an urban setting and ease housing shortages in the town.
The affected villagers roped in the Abammeli Human Rights Lawyers’ Network after the housing co-operative started parcelling out pieces of land in their area to desperate home-seekers.
Tineyi Mukwewa, co-ordinator of the rights group, told Southern Eye that the council reversed the decision following resistance by the villagers.
“They are not going to be building a satellite town.
Instead, the council has said it wants to build a growth point and it will not overlap into lands belonging to the villagers,” Mukwewa said.
“We have been assured that no villager will lose their land to the growth point and even if that was going to be the case, the council has said it will negotiate with the villagers for possible compensation and not forcible evict them.”
No comment could be obtained from that council yesterday.
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