Zimbabwe will be importing wood in 10 to 15 years because of the indiscriminate cutting of trees by resettled farmers, the Member of Parliament for Musikavanhu Prosper Mutseyami has warned.
He said people who had been settled informer plantations like Nyanga, Bende, Tillberry, Stapleford and Ellen Forest were cutting down tree s and were not replanting them.
“I am foresighted and in 10 to 15 years, Zimbabwe will be importing wood because these people are decimating these forests at an alarming rate and yet we expect them to be planting trees, harvest the trees and plant new forests,” he said in his contribution to the debate on the Land Commission Bill.
Mutseyami also said people must be settled in their home areas and was against the idea of people from Chipinge being resettled in Mashonaland East or Zezurus taking over land in Chipinge which was an area for the Ndau.
“I am pleading with the people of Zimbabwe, be patriotic, be in love with the place where you were born. However, we realised that we have people of the Ndau origin being resettled in Mashonaland East, being removed from the people of their area,” he said.
“Some of the people are being taken to Matabeleland, do we not have indigenous people in those areas who should be resettled in their areas of origin? People are crossing these countries going to other areas where they do not belong and yet we have people who belong to those areas who should benefit from this land resettlement programme.
“Mr. Speaker Sir, in Chipinge, do we not have Ndau people who want to occupy the land of their ancestors? If this Land Commission is going to take an audit of the land distribution, there are some people who have moved from those areas and yet the people of those areas were not able to benefit.
“We have the Ndau people who are being robbed of their land, which is being given to the Zezurus. I think even the beneficiaries should also be ashamed of occupying the land which is supposed to be occupied by people of that area. “
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