via Mavhaire disempowered us: Villagers July 14, 2014 by Veneranda Langa
CHISUMBANJE — Hundreds of villagers displaced by the multi-million-dollar Green Fuel ethanol plant in Chisumbanje have accused Energy and Power Development minister Dzikamai Mavhaire of contributing to their misery after he allegedly disbanded a local committee that used to fight for their concerns.
The villagers told the visiting members of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment chaired by Gokwe-Nembudziya MP Justice Mayor Wadyajena last Friday that Mavhaire disempowered them when he disbanded the District Ethanol Plant Implementation Committee which represented their interests in the project.
Villagers’ representative Darlington Chandaitirwa told the committee that Mavhaire had visited the plant several times since his appointment into Cabinet last September, but failed to ensure the villagers were adequately compensated for the land that was grabbed by the Billy Rautenbach ethanol project.
“Mavhaire and the local MP Enock Porusingazi are the ones who disbanded Depic and now villagers are suffering with no consultations taking place between them and Green Fuel,” said Chandaitirwa.
“They are conniving with the white investors and we think politicians are gaining from the ethanol project at the expense of the local people.”
The Chisumbanje Youth Development Trust also told the committee that politicians had hijacked the project and suffocated the voice of the community on the value of investment and how the community was going to benefit from the plant.
However, Green Fuel assistant general manager Raphael Zuze said his company had invested heavily towards uplifting the lives of displaced villagers.
“The company has 9 375 hectares of sugar cane in the ground of which 1 060 hectares was developed at a cost of $10 million for community farmers. Of this, 250 hectares have been developed for war veterans and 410 hectares for local settler farmers. The project employs 4 500 people and we hope to employ 30 000 by 2020,” Zuze said.
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