VILLAGERS in Nyamakate are up in arms with a quarry miner over farming and grazing land along the Harare-Chirundu highway, claiming that the latter is invading their land.
Vhuti quarry mine is mining quarry stones being used by one of the four companies contracted by the government to widen the Harare-Chirundu highway.
Some 20 villagers have petitioned the Hurungwe district development co-ordinator, Local Government and Public Works minister Daniel Garwe, Mines and Mining Development minister Winston Chitando after Vhuti Mining Company erected fences enclosing villagers' fields.
The company fenced a 150-hectare area where it is mining quarry stones for road construction in Alpha village in Nyamakate. According to the petition, the villagers claim that government allocated them plots in 1992, but they were being taken away by the company.
One of the affected Alpha villagers, John Chipangura, told NewsDay that his field was among those fenced off by the construction company.
“We were allocated this land way back in 1992 but we were surprised to see the mining company fencing our fields without notice,” he said.
Former councillor for the area Jealous Matesanwa said this was not the first time the company duped villagers over quarry stones.
“Some years back when I was councillor, this quarry mining company in partnership with some Japanese mined quarry stones and some villagers got nothing out of the mining business. Today it has come back again,” he said.
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However, the quarry mine owner Jackson Makate sang a different tune, saying his company started doing business in the area in 2017 and it was operating in accordance with government regulations.
He said their operations were following Environmental Management Agency (Ema) regulations.
“What we are doing is above board and we have all the required paperwork, including the environmental impact assessment certificate from Ema. We started operating here in 2017, and we gave villagers enough grace period to vacate the area,” he said.
Ward 7 councillor in Hurungwe Rural District Council Nomatter Mulisa, however, said no consultations were done with villagers for the company to operate in the area.
“Whether their paperwork is in order or not, what we are saying is that the community was not involved from the beginning of the project,” Mulisa said.
Hurungwe district administrator Andrew Tizora said they were still to engage the parties involved so that they could come up with a lasting solution.
“We will meet all the parties concerned and hear them for a lasting solution,” he said.
While all parties wait for the meeting to take place and road construction is in progress, villagers continue to incur losses given that most crops are ripening.
