MDC Alliance is calling on Zimbabweans to boycott Dendairy (Pvt) Limited products to protest the company’s bid to dislodge some 12 500 Chilonga villagers from their Chiredzi ancestral land to make way for a government sanctioned grass project by the under-fire firm.
The development comes shortly after the opposition party challenged the “unconstitutional” displacement of the villagers to pave way for the 10 000 hectare Lucerne grass project by the private company.
Speaking to NewZimbabwe.com Thursday, MDC Alliance deputy spokesperson, Clifford Hlatshwayo said the biggest win for Zimbabweans would be to see their compatriots being spared from the displacements.
“This is not just a campaign, it concerns people’s life issues and we have to stand together to achieve this.
“Dendairy must abandon that project in Chilonga and look for another area to grow grass. You cannot remove people and replace them with grass,” he said.
The MDC Alliance official urged the Zanu PF led government to look for alternative land since the country has huge tracts of underutilised land.
“MDC Alliance shall work with the community and all stakeholders to pursue this agenda for the people of Chilonga.
“We will employ a number of constitutional measures and approaches to stop these Zanu PF planned evictions. We will stop at nothing, together we will achieve it,” Hlatshwayo said.
Clifford Hlatshwayo
He added that the MDC Alliance leadership was already engaging the affected community in line with the party’s social democratic values of justice, solidarity and freedom.
The campaign is running under the #SaveChilonga, #Boycott Dendairy and envisages millions of Zimbabweans snubbing the company’s products.
The development comes after the party’s local government secretary, Sesel Zvidzai argued the evictions were arbitrary and illegal as Section 71(3) of the Constitution did not allow for the deprivation of property for commercial purposes that are not beneficial to the community.
MDC Alliance has accused government of pursuing policies which impoverished the poor while violating their livelihoods, cultural practices, dignity, land rights and indigenous knowledge systems.
Credit: New Zimbabwe