via Sugar plantations to be seized: Chikovo | The Zimbabwean by Regerai Tukutuku 25.09.13
Zanu (PF) plans to invade sugar plantations in the Lowveld and parcel them out to new players as part of its election promises, according to a senior government official.
“We have summoned Hippo Valley to explain to us why it under-declared its land,” said Felix Chikovo, the Masvingo provincial administrator. The company, together with Triangle Limited, is owned by Tongaat Hullet, an international sugar production player.
Already, a large swathe of farmland has been earmarked for seizure after the Masvingo provincial land allocation committee accused Hippo Valley Estates of dishonesty. The government accuses the company of clinging onto huge pieces of land at the expense of ordinary farmers keen to try their luck in the sugar industry.
Management at Hippo Valley Estates denied the allegation. In fact, said chief executive officer Sydney Mutsambiwa, his company has always played a pivotal role in helping new sugar farmers to learn the ropes.
But Chikovo remains adamant. “Although the company has denied these allegations, investigations are still continuing and once we find them to be true we are going to take appropriate action,” he said.
Dzikamayi Mavhaire, the Minister of Energy and Power Development, gave clear indication of the government’s plan while addressing hundreds of people in Mwenezi last week.
“We should not allow a few individuals to grab land and dish it among themselves and their relatives,” he said.
“There should be openness and transparency in the allocation of the new plots to ensure that we all share the same cake with others.”
Mavhaire said the programme must lead to an orderly redistribution of sugar cane plots to help ordinary people in Masvingo.
Meanwhile, some MDC-T officials say Zanu (PF) tried to entice town councillors to vote for their mayoral candidate in exchange for plots in the Lowveld.
“We were approached after the elections and advised that if we voted for a Zanu (PF) mayor we would be rewarded with sugar cane plots,” said one councillor. “We declined the offer.”
COMMENTS
you have to seize something so you can fk it up.
Although the company has denied these allegations, investigations are still continuing and once we find them to be true we are going to take appropriate action,” he said.
Sounds like the verdict has already been decided, even though the “investigations are still continuing”, eh. I’d call that “fishing for a predetermined result”… Just like all those other investigations.
Yet another reason finding businesses to invest in Zim with the current conditions is going to be near impossible. If the venture turns successful, they better cook the books, otherwise it’ll become one of Robert Mugabe’s personal assets. He treats Zim like it’s his personal piggy bank. You hide and watch.
For Mugabe and his minion, just remember this… your judgment day is no farther away than your last breath on earth. You’ll leave all that wealth and power behind, and those awful demons will drag your sorry, whimpering carcass to that eternal abyss of horrors.
Confess your sins, and repent while there is time..!
..
This one is for Mbeki and Zoooma. Why should they care? Its only Hullet Tongaat shareholders who will suffer. And Mzi’s gold mines? Mugwabwe will go for Mzi after this. Then starvation….I will wait.Not long now.
…and then in the sugarcane plantation mushroomed subsistence maize growers,after only a yr after the seizure,Zim began importing sugar from SA
is this e so called land redistribution,ohh! I have seen productive farms around my area turned into mice hunting ground by these greedy people,just take a tour around farms in kwekwe that were seized,e fields have long been abandoned,only e name of e heavyweight politician remains as occuping the land.
I have seen fruit and flower trees uprooted in Nyanga in the name of giving way to ”food crops”,what is there now,nothing…
Ndiko kunonzi kufongorera museve kana ma baiwa musazvochema. Lets wait and see, I warned zanu pf when they grabbed the land but they didnt want to listen , now they blaming the sanctions yet they are the ones who started to isolate themselves.Everything should be done with the support of the ZIMBWABWEAN POPULATION.
mazimdc ua always mourning if they underdeclared surely there is every good reason to give bek the land to mpapa chief and his community we were forcibly removed from bendezi in hippo valley so we need our land definately
Disgussing Robber the Mugger and Dis-Grace is a waste of time and effort. Coltart, Bredenkamp, Ruitenbach and van Oosterhuizen are all in their pockets.
Until there is a verifiable electronic Voters Roll, digital voting booths, International Observers, Constitutional demands met and no Nikuv, it’s all just talk!
Mugger and his Merry Men will rape ‘Our Beloved Country’, as we Cry and knash teeth! He just likes the sound of his empty words at the UN, Vic Falls, Parly-ment and Cowards Acre!
2018 is the talking point, nothing now will help. He raped Zimbabwe again and didn’t even use a condom!
The thieves are back and they will not stop untill they have TOTALY buggered up every corner of this great country…”The masters of destruction”