Tension In Chipinge As Rautenbach Encroaches Into Villagers’ Land
Billy Rautenbach
Tempers are high in Chisumbanje and Chinyamukwakwa as the farming season approaches amid reports that more villagers are losing their land to businessman Billy Rautenbach’s Green Fuel.
For the last decade, some residents of Chisumbanje and Chinyamukwakwa villages in Chipinge District have endured a strained relationship with their corporate neighbour, Green Fuel, which stands accused of displacing people off their native land without proper resettlement.
Rautenbach’s company commenced operations after signing a pact with the Zimbabwe government in 2009 and has since been dogged by controversy over accusations of unduely displacing villagers whose land is their only source of livelihood.
The land squabble between green fuel and Chisumbanje/Chinyamukwakwa residents reached a boiling point when Green fuel allegedly instructed its workforce to slush down farm produce for those villagers who defied instructions to stop producing on their land as it was earmarked for Green Fuel expansion.
Up to now villagers complain that nothing has been done to help the vulnerable peasant farmers whose land has been seized without proper resettlement but instead Rautenbach continues to displace more villagers from their native land.
Though some crops like maize experience humpered growth due to baking heat in the area, the rich black soils make the area very conducive for drought resistant crop like millet, sorghum, sesame and cotton that have been perennial sources of livelihood for the locals.
Green Fuel is a sugar cane based bio-ethanol plant. The biofuel project commenced as a build, operate and transfer partnership between the government represented by the Agricultural Rural Development Authority (Arda), Green Fuel Investments (headed by Rautenbach) and two other investment partners – Rating Investments and Macdom Investments.
The loaded benefits of the project to locals, the fuel industry, and adding value to the economy are frowned upon by critics who accuse Rautenbach of being a nexus for politicians. Critics of the project claim that the burdens far outweigh the benefits, especially with reports of land being taken away from local villagers.
Land is a sensitive issue in Zimbabwe that instigated the struggle for independence culminating in the first black government being installed in 1980.
–-ZimVoice
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