Villagers in Chinyamukwakwa, Manicaland province in Zimbabwe have been ordered by the Greenfuel company to harvest their crops and vacate their ancestral lands in two months.
Greenfuel which is owned by multi-millionaire Billy Rautenbach was leased the land that was once used by the Agricultural And Rural Development Authority (ARDA) in Middle Sabi and Chisumbanje. It is now expanding its boundaries into areas occupied by the villagers. Currently, the company has over 40,000 hectares of land.
Spokesperson of the villagers, Professor Lovemore Madhuku accused Greenfuel of greed. He explained that “the company accepted that it cannot plough down unharvested crops owned by the villagers and has given up until possibly August for them to finish harvesting. We are preparing court papers against this.
The company is just greedy, if they admire good land, they will just grab it. They are taking law into their own hands.”
Headman Chinyamukwakwa and his community are blaming their MP Enock Porusingasi of ZANU PF who they accuse of supporting Greenfuel against the people who elected him into office.
They also blamed District development Coordinator (DDC) William Mashava and chief Garahwa.
“Who will fight for us when all these people are involved. The MP and the DDC are on Greenfuel’s side…The MP is giving away our land to Mr Rautenbach. We were born and bred here and this is our land, “Chinyamukwakwa said.
GreenFuel produces about 380,000 litres of ethanol per day and runs its own electricity on bio fuels.