The Sunday News
CHIEF Jahana has fired 28 village heads for allegedly illegally selling land in Insiza district and ordered all those who had bought the stands to vacate the area or risk being forcibly removed.
The chief made the announcement on Wednesday during a meeting held at Lochard, 60km outside Bulawayo. The meeting was meant to address the scandal that was exposed by this publication where it was initially reported that two ward councillors and 27 village heads were selling land for amounts ranging between $600 and $1 000 or for a single beast.
The scam has also sucked in Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Cde Andrew Langa and suspended Zanu-PF Matabeleland South province secretary for lands Cde Jabulani Phetshu-Sibanda.
Of the village heads expelled, 17 are not even registered with the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing as they were imposed by Cde Phetshu-Sibanda.
In the latest development, Chief Jahana used his powers to expel the 28 village heads and further presented a list that documented that 2 332 stands were sold illegally, of which five of the villages where 722 stands were sold are non-existent.
The meeting was attended by police officers, members of the lands committee and Chief Sibasa who represented Matabeleland South traditional leaders.
“From today onwards, whatever duties you were doing under the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing please stop forthwith because I am expelling you as village heads because of this clear corruption.
“You all have failed in your designated duties; you are all corrupt and have greatly embarrassed me. I now want to show you who is the chief here, the time has come for you stop doing as you will,” said Chief Jahana.
He called on the police not to hesitate to arrest all the village heads as they had proven beyond reasonable doubt that they were corrupt as the evidence that they had sold land was overwhelming.
“These people have to be arrested, this has been going on for too long. If they want to deny that land was illegally sold we will come with the list of names of the people who are meant to be settled here and the rest must tell us where they got the stands and who settled them there.
“I must kindly ask these people to leave this area without the need for us to forcibly remove them because when we do that we won’t be caring where they came from or where we will dump them. We will simply demand that they vacate because they are not supposed to be here. To the village heads I have fired today, go back to your respective villages and tell the people you settled illegally that they should pack and go, especially those with private villages,” fumed Chief Jahana.
He also called on people not to fear anyone, noting that the death threats that were being peddled around held no water as they were now descending on everyone who had been fingered in the scam.
The chief revealed that he also had been subject to a number of threats including people claiming he was getting rid of people along tribal lines but said he would not be deterred in striving to resolve the matter.
“I really don’t care whether it’s Phetshu or anyone. What I’m saying is that what they did is illegal and they should be brought to book for this, which is why I am so pained by all this. No one is more powerful than the law. If you are, then go and hide behind a political party. No one can go around issuing death threats willy-nilly or telling people that they will disappear, this only happened during war times. If these people are saying we are now going back to the war, they should tell us,” said the chief.
The 11 official village heads who were fired are Mr Elliot Sibanda, Mrs Sibongumusa Sheila Mdluli, Mrs Siphiwe Sibanda, Mrs Sha Moyo, Mr Cephas Mathe, Mr Bongani Ncube, Mr Fanethi Ndlovu, Mrs Nebu Mkhulunyelwa, Mr Amos Sakhelane, Mr Kenneth Maseko and Mr Daniel Masina.
Mr Philip Moyo, Mrs Elizabeth Siziba, Mrs Enathi Maseko, Mrs Sakhile Moyo, Mr Leason Moyo, Mr Dan Mathe, Mrs Virgina Moyo, Mr Josiah Ndiweni, Mr Alexia Dube, Mrs Kinana Dlodlo, Mrs Nomsa Mguni, Mr Shem Mathe, Mr Cain Moyo, Mrs Sibongile Ngwenya, Mrs Anna Gumbo, Mr Obert Sitsha and Mr Vusumuzi Moyo make up the list of the fired village heads who were allegedly imposed by Cde Phetshu-Sibanda.
According to a document detailing the illegal sale of stands in the area, provided by Chief Jahana, top most among those that have established private villages are Mr Elliot Sibanda who established 315 stands in Lochard village seven, Mr Even Masuku who sold 123 stands in the non-existent Insango Village 4b, Mr Alfred Sibanda who established and sold 120 stands at Lochard Village 8, Mrs Kinana Dlodlo who established and sold 100 stands at Insango Village 4 and Mr Vusumuzi Moyo who established and sold 64 stands at Green Lands Village 4.
According to the list, Government allocated 1 054 stands in the area but there were now 3 386 of which 2 332 were illegally sold and are non-existent stands.
“An unspecified number of stands were sold and illegally allocated to a number of people from outside the district by Mr Colbelt Thebe and his wife. Most of the people illegally allocated these stands are not even residing in the allocated stands, with most being outside the country,” reads the document.
Speaking during the same meeting Chief Sibasa said the village heads had clearly disrespected Chief Jahana by going behind his back to embark on the illegal business of selling land and harassing his subjects.
“If I had the power I would get rid of all these people today but what we can do for now is issue them with a notice to gather what they have and go back where they came from, they should deal with the people who sold them the stands and reclaim their money and not trouble us. It is not our business that they have developed the stands building expensive houses and all, the bottom line is that they are not supposed to be where they are now, maybe if they co-operate we might feel sorry for them and consider them in other areas where we identify land for resettlement,” said Chief Sibasa.
Insiza Rural District Council chairperson Councillor Daniel Mpofu said as a council they had made a clear resolution that all those who had illegally bought stands in the area should vacate.
“We will now be coming back to you to tell you the date when these people should have vacated because we can’t have people taking areas that were originally meant to be grazing lands and worse still they bought these stands illegally,” said Clr Mpofu.
Insiza district administrator Mrs Sithandiwe Ncube declined to comment on the matter, while provincial administrator Mr Midard Khumalo was not picking his phone.
