Scramble for pipeline properties
Zambezi River
LUPANE - Like many rural growth points in
the remote and tragically underdeveloped province of Matabeleland North,
Dongamuzi in Lupane is a lousy place to spend the day, coming alive when the one
and only noisy bus that plies the route passes by.
The nearby huts are designed and decorated in the
true Zulu traditional way.
But here live a depressed, hungry and angry people who have known nothing better than persecution since Robert Mugabe took power in Zimbabwe on April 18, 1980.
It is not the general oppression that concerns Jahelihle Ncube (not his real name), the proud sibling of a gallant fighter who guarded Lobengula in his last flight towards the Zambezi, lost to the Maxim guns of the invaders and decided to settle in the deep forests, far away from the menacing conquerors.
For Ncube, a former PF-ZAPU legal affairs member, the whole issue of political freedom and prosperity for the region hinges around one thing - the completion of the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (MZWP), which he calls "the long-awaited pipe-dream." He has no doubt that the project could save the province from perennial water shortages and the attendant humanitarian crisis.
"My problem with this pipeline is that past and serving Zanu (PF) politicians, soldiers and intelligence chiefs have already shared out all the possible benefits which could have gone to the communities.
"There is so little remaining now, and they have to fight for it. Some of the underhand wars we have seen inside the ruling party over the past four years have been for control of the MZWT water, whenever it comes," said Ncube.
A map of the proposed pipeline shows that from a point near the Deka River mouth on the Zambezi, it will cross the northern mountain range that follows the Zambezi and head for the confluence of the Gwayi and Shangani rivers where the long-touted Gwayi-Shangani Dam, supposed to have been completed three years ago, is yet to take shape. From there it runs almost straight to Jotsholo, through Lupane and Nyamandlovu and on to Bulawayo, keeping to the western side of the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls road.
According to Ncube, Zanu (PF) politicians used the land reform exercise to take all the farms that lie on either side of the pipeline. All the possible and existing large scale ventures like irrigation schemes, timber logging and safari business ventures on either side of the proposed pipeline will either be located in private property or depend on water supplies from booster stations inside privately owned properties.
"In the Insuza-Umguza area, industry and international trade minister Obert Mpofu, Vice-Presidents Joseph Msika and Joyce Mujuru, national chairman John Nkomo and Ibbo Mandaza have virtually shared out all the areas. So much that they are now fighting openly as you saw in the war between Ibbo Mandaza and Obert Mpofu over one farm in Umguza.
“The reason was that the farm either lies right where there should be a MZWT feeder station or strategically located downstream of it. Everyone wants to control the flow and access to it by the communities," said Ncube.
He also alleged that the timber milling businesses at St. Lukes in Lupane and Jotsholo further north would also enjoy easy and controlling access to the water if it ever flows.
"It is common knowledge that MZWT chairman and former minister Dumiso Dabengwa has a controlling stake in those ventures.
"The same is happening in the safari areas in the Hwange, Binga, Kamativi and Dete areas where senior Zanu (PF) ministers like Francis Nhema, former provincial chairman Jacob Mudenda and a number of former army and intelligence chiefs have divided the spoils and settled in for a long wait for the water. If it comes, they win.If it doesn't they don't lose too much.
The pipeline project was inherited from the colonial government in 1980. It was envisaged as a long-term drought relief strategy for the perennially dry provinces of Matabeleland North and South.
Dumiso Dabengwa has been at the helm of the MZWT, a public trust formed in the early 90s to guide the implementation of activities. Under Dabengwa's leadership, the public profile of the company faded quickly and turned into a one-man show, with the ruling party displacing the public as controlling shareholder.
None of the officials was available for comment except Obert Mpofu, whose secretary said the minister “does not talk to The Zimbabwean”.
In 2003, Arnold Payne, a leading campaigner for the realization of the MZWT pipedream dragged Dabengwa to court and won an order compelling the former minister to present MZWT accounts for scrutiny.
Up to now the minister has failed to do so and observers believe it could because he fears the damaging nature of the evidence that could come out of the audit. Dabengwa fired a number of MZWT staff in 2003 when they leaked documents allegedly revealing that, as minister, he had used MZWT funds to fly himself and a woman friend to secret honeymoons in Germany and Canada.
The documents also revealed that, contrary to government announcements that the project would take off soon, it was far from coming because the Malaysian and Chinese businessmen who had promised to fund it had failed to secure partners for the build-operate-and transfer project. The financiers allegedly did not have their own money, and were turned down by some Western funders whom they approached for loan support.
The financiers reportedly argued that Zimbabwe was a high-risk investment destination and referred to the land reform exercise as proof that property and businesses could be seized by government with neither notice nor compensation.
But here live a depressed, hungry and angry people who have known nothing better than persecution since Robert Mugabe took power in Zimbabwe on April 18, 1980.
It is not the general oppression that concerns Jahelihle Ncube (not his real name), the proud sibling of a gallant fighter who guarded Lobengula in his last flight towards the Zambezi, lost to the Maxim guns of the invaders and decided to settle in the deep forests, far away from the menacing conquerors.
For Ncube, a former PF-ZAPU legal affairs member, the whole issue of political freedom and prosperity for the region hinges around one thing - the completion of the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (MZWP), which he calls "the long-awaited pipe-dream." He has no doubt that the project could save the province from perennial water shortages and the attendant humanitarian crisis.
"My problem with this pipeline is that past and serving Zanu (PF) politicians, soldiers and intelligence chiefs have already shared out all the possible benefits which could have gone to the communities.
"There is so little remaining now, and they have to fight for it. Some of the underhand wars we have seen inside the ruling party over the past four years have been for control of the MZWT water, whenever it comes," said Ncube.
A map of the proposed pipeline shows that from a point near the Deka River mouth on the Zambezi, it will cross the northern mountain range that follows the Zambezi and head for the confluence of the Gwayi and Shangani rivers where the long-touted Gwayi-Shangani Dam, supposed to have been completed three years ago, is yet to take shape. From there it runs almost straight to Jotsholo, through Lupane and Nyamandlovu and on to Bulawayo, keeping to the western side of the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls road.
According to Ncube, Zanu (PF) politicians used the land reform exercise to take all the farms that lie on either side of the pipeline. All the possible and existing large scale ventures like irrigation schemes, timber logging and safari business ventures on either side of the proposed pipeline will either be located in private property or depend on water supplies from booster stations inside privately owned properties.
"In the Insuza-Umguza area, industry and international trade minister Obert Mpofu, Vice-Presidents Joseph Msika and Joyce Mujuru, national chairman John Nkomo and Ibbo Mandaza have virtually shared out all the areas. So much that they are now fighting openly as you saw in the war between Ibbo Mandaza and Obert Mpofu over one farm in Umguza.
“The reason was that the farm either lies right where there should be a MZWT feeder station or strategically located downstream of it. Everyone wants to control the flow and access to it by the communities," said Ncube.
He also alleged that the timber milling businesses at St. Lukes in Lupane and Jotsholo further north would also enjoy easy and controlling access to the water if it ever flows.
"It is common knowledge that MZWT chairman and former minister Dumiso Dabengwa has a controlling stake in those ventures.
"The same is happening in the safari areas in the Hwange, Binga, Kamativi and Dete areas where senior Zanu (PF) ministers like Francis Nhema, former provincial chairman Jacob Mudenda and a number of former army and intelligence chiefs have divided the spoils and settled in for a long wait for the water. If it comes, they win.If it doesn't they don't lose too much.
The pipeline project was inherited from the colonial government in 1980. It was envisaged as a long-term drought relief strategy for the perennially dry provinces of Matabeleland North and South.
Dumiso Dabengwa has been at the helm of the MZWT, a public trust formed in the early 90s to guide the implementation of activities. Under Dabengwa's leadership, the public profile of the company faded quickly and turned into a one-man show, with the ruling party displacing the public as controlling shareholder.
None of the officials was available for comment except Obert Mpofu, whose secretary said the minister “does not talk to The Zimbabwean”.
In 2003, Arnold Payne, a leading campaigner for the realization of the MZWT pipedream dragged Dabengwa to court and won an order compelling the former minister to present MZWT accounts for scrutiny.
Up to now the minister has failed to do so and observers believe it could because he fears the damaging nature of the evidence that could come out of the audit. Dabengwa fired a number of MZWT staff in 2003 when they leaked documents allegedly revealing that, as minister, he had used MZWT funds to fly himself and a woman friend to secret honeymoons in Germany and Canada.
The documents also revealed that, contrary to government announcements that the project would take off soon, it was far from coming because the Malaysian and Chinese businessmen who had promised to fund it had failed to secure partners for the build-operate-and transfer project. The financiers allegedly did not have their own money, and were turned down by some Western funders whom they approached for loan support.
The financiers reportedly argued that Zimbabwe was a high-risk investment destination and referred to the land reform exercise as proof that property and businesses could be seized by government with neither notice nor compensation.
