CRD Warns Government of Rights Abuses in Manhize Forced Evictions

By Staff Writer

The Centre for Research and Development (CRD), a respected civic watchdog based in Mutare, has intensified pressure on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration to immediately halt the ongoing forced relocations of villagers in Manhize to make way for the Chinese-owned Dinson Iron and Steel Company (DISCO).

In a strongly worded statement released yesterday, CRD accused government of neglecting its constitutional obligations and allowing a pattern of “grave and avoidable human rights violations” as families are pushed out in the middle of the rainy season without basic services or proper relocation facilities.

Over the past week, the Chinese firm reportedly escalated its efforts to forcibly remove the last 18 families remaining in Mushenjere Village, despite Sable Farm, the designated relocation site, being unprepared and dangerously unsuitable for habitation.

According to CRD, villagers were coerced into signing relocation Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) in November 2024, agreements which failed to specify who, government or Dinson, was responsible for water, farmland, housing, schools, electricity, clinics, or other essential infrastructure at Sable Farm.

This omission, CRD argues, has allowed both the state and the company to shirk responsibility, leaving families “caught between neglect and coercion.”

The organisation warns that by standing idle as families are forced out of their ancestral homes, government is violating several constitutional rights, including dignity, property, environmental protection, and children’s welfare.

CRD cited Sections 44, 51, 71, 73, and 81 of the Constitution and emphasized that Zimbabwe is also breaching international human rights obligations, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

According to CRD, the ongoing crisis mirrors previous controversial and poorly managed relocations in Singleton and Rusununguko, raising fears of a systemic failure in government oversight of mega mining projects.

A recent CRD field visit to Mushenjere and Sable Farm revealed a landscape of fear, hunger and broken promises.

In Mushenjere Village, residents described a community slowly suffocating under the weight of mining operations. Heavy machinery has torn through roads and fields, while dense dust and toxic fumes have made life unbearable.

Several huts, already weakened by lack of maintenance due to impending relocation, collapsed during recent storms, leaving families in leaking and unsafe shelters as rains intensify.

Villagers also expressed anguish over their ancestral graves, which now lie behind DISCO’s durawall. Access for cultural rituals has reportedly been denied.

“One of our deepest fears is being separated forever from our loved ones’ graves,” a villager told CRD. “Our culture is being erased.”

Women interviewed said they were trapped in a “double tragedy”, their homes in Mushenjere are no longer livable, yet Sable Farm offers no viable alternative.

“They hide behind the village head,” one woman said, accusing Village Head Eria Jemwa of being used by Dinson to pressure families. “Maybe they bought him that car. Why isn’t Dinson meeting us directly?”

Conditions at Sable Farm, where four families have already been moved, are equally dire.

Eighty-six-year-old Tapfumaneyi Mugoni said he felt compelled to relocate because mining activities had destroyed his fields and polluted the air. But Sable Farm, he said, has turned into “a place of suffering.”

“There is no dam, no irrigation, and the borehole water is contaminated,” he said. “At 86, how do I walk two kilometres to Dinson’s tap? Where are we supposed to plant? The rains are already here.”

Villagers said Dinson owes each household at least three months’ worth of food allowances, around US$200 per month, and many families are now in debt.

“In Mushenjere, our homes are falling. In Sable Farm, our houses are leaking. Where are we supposed to live?” one woman asked.

CRD observed uncompleted houses, cracked walls, leaking roofs, and broken doors tied together with wire. Some homes had no keys or locks.

Elderly villager Mr Gwere summed up the frustration, “From far away, the houses look nice. But the walls crack, the windows don’t close, and the roofs leak. They build proper houses for themselves, not for us.”

CRD issued a six-point urgent action plan calling on the Government of Zimbabwe to, suspend all forced relocations until Sable Farm is fully serviced, deploy housing inspectors to check structural integrity of houses, provide immediate humanitarian support, water, food, and health services, review the compensation framework to ensure fair and sustainable livelihoods, investigate intimidation and coercion by Dinson agents and government officials, and establish a Relocation Oversight Taskforce including affected families, local leaders, and Parliament.