State Security agents last week nearly caused a scene in Mrewa after confronting a team of journalists that went on a fact-finding mission on the Mrewa-Macheke Highway road project that is likely to displace more than 70 villagers.
The road project has raised the ire of the villagers whose homes will be destroyed to allow the smooth passage of the road that goes directly through homes.
This means close to 70 soon to be homeless families will have to look for an alternative location.
The road poses a huge health catastrophe to the villagers as they have to bear with the huge quantities of dust and the possibility of accidents once the road opens which stands barely three meters away from some houses.
The road poses a huge health catastrophe to the villagers as they have to bear with the huge quantities of dust and the possibility of accidents once the road opens which stands barely three meters away from some houses.
According to a plan from the local government department, the road is being widened and the plan has been in place since the 1950s and several attempts have been made to roll it out.
However, a source said, financial challenges and abuse of funds have hindered any meaningful progress.
It is only last month that the council through the ministry of roads embarked on the project without notifying villagers whose houses stand on the highway.
A trip to the project yesterday was marred by a swarm of more than 12 state security and police details in plain clothes who kept lingering around, with some telling journalists not to take pictures despite the scribes having identified themselves.
Affected villagers say they have been gagged by alleged state security and Zanu-PF youths from talking to the media.
It was an uphill task to have them open up on the ordeal which befell them and most who spoke to journalists refused to reveal their identities for fear of victimisations.
The road poses a huge health catastrophe to the villagers as they have to bear with the huge quantities of dust and the possibility of accidents once the road opens which stands barely three meters away from some houses.
“The guys who are doing the road came unexpectedly and told us to remove our maize, some of which were not ripe. We had no choice but to do what they had said.
“If we didn’t, it meant our crops would have been destroyed. The unfortunate thing is that we got this land legally at the recommendation of the headman,” she said.
Another villager said they have nowhere to report to as they are scared for their lives.
“We have been intimidated and we cannot take our grievances anywhere since the same system is the one which is threatening us,” he said.
“Everyday, unfamiliar people linger around this road. We have tried to hold a demonstration but it was intercepted before it started,” the villager lamented.
A source told 263Chat that road project is being fronted by Transport Minister, Biggie Matiza, whose house tends to benefit from the project as it will lead directly to his family homestead.
“What they are doing is to build a road that leads to the minister’s house while infringing our rights. They are supposed to be destroying the councillor’s house but because he is Zanu-PF, his house has been left out despite it being in the same path with our houses,” another villager told 263Chat.
According to a source from Mrerwa Rural District Council, the council wants to construct a tarred road but there is a hard rock which is expensive to blast.
“It is more expensive to blast the rock which sits under the road, so since the 1950s, the pegged road has always been the one that we are trying to construct, which is about three kilometres. For us to progress using less expensive ways, we have to construct on the same land where houses are built,” he said.
Called on to give a comment, Mrewa District Administrator, Gumburayi Wadzwanya could not shed more light on the nature of the project as she promised to return calls, but was later unavailable and in some cases, not answering calls.
Reports indicate that Mrewa RDC does not plan to compensate the aggrieved villagers
FreeZim Congress leader, Joseph Busha believes the government should have notified the villagers and compensated them in the process.
“It is only fair for the government to have found an alternative for these people because they are losing out. Imagine all the money they spent building these houses only to be told to move within a month. They deserve better,” he said.
