Source: Chitungwiza youths invade church land – NewZimbabwe 21/06/2016
CHITUNGWIZA: Youths and residents Monday morning invaded an open space in St Marys and subdivided it among themselves claiming that they were following what the Zanu PF youths have done before.
The youths vowed to stay put, saying they wanted to see what action would be taken against them since nothing has been done by the Chitungwiza council to Zanu PF youths who did the same.
Located between Chikwanha Shopping Centre and St Marys Police Station, the disputed piece of land is believed to be owned by an international church which is said to be planning to build a vocational training centre.
Some of the youths told Newzimbabwe that they missed out on land reform and feared they may yet again lose out on housing stands as it has become a smash and grab scenario.
“Zanu PF youths invaded land here and subdivided it among themselves and the local authorities are just watching, we have decided to take our own portion of land,” said a youth calling himself Don.
“Only time will tell whether we will be removed but for now we will stay put,” added Edna.
Other people said land invasions by the youths were triggered by Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere who said youths will be allocated about 7000 housing stands as part of the ruling party’s economic empowerment programme.
Kasukuwere was quoted by state media saying his project was in line with the ruling party’s economic blue print-ZimAsset.
Repeated efforts to get a comment from the local authority were fruitless.
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