Sensitization for the community facing relocation
Susan Muchena /Marange Development Trust/22.6.2018
Marange Development Trust once saved two families in Tinoengana village from relocation after Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Mining company relocated other families to Arda Transau without compensation and full information on relocation through court order.Kusena village after seeing a visit from Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Mining company writing down names of the villagers approached us thus we conducted a meeting on 23 May with community members including the women ,men and the youth.Honourable Erick Murai who was part of the invited guest admitted that Zimbabwe was not good at relocating but the government was supposed to protect the communities in every relocation so that there is no violation of rights.Relocation should not be a drawback but should retain a person’s normal life or should be improved,but our government has failed us giving the example of the community relocated in Arda Transau.
Mr Mudiwa explained that the community has the right to be well informed on the whole relocation process way before the relocation through their participation in environmental impact assessment process.If it happens that they are part of relocation they have the right to visit the area they are to be relocated before and if possible to hire a private evaluator to avoid being short charged giving an example of Newman Chiyadzwa who was compensated fully when mining kickstarted in Marange.He also emphasized that no one should leave before the whole compensation process and every thing should be documented agreements signed for later use.
In the youth discussion we felt that youth are always left out on the relocation process thus we suggested land should be set aside for us to do projects and for example before relocation when a brother marry the father will share a piece of land to start his family and this should be the same after relocation and royalties should follow the relocated communities where ever they go
After the discussion some questions remain unanswered
1)how many times should a person be relocated
2)is a person free to join other family members not in the area to be relocated others whilst getting the same assistance as others?
Relocation policy was then advised to be answer and we should advocate for one government to have one
