By Regerai Marwezu 

MASVINGO – Vice-President Joseph Msika has openly clashed with Masvingo provincial governor Willard Chiwewe over plans to designate Nuanetsi ranch in the southern Masvingo province that is owned by the Development Trust of Zimbabwe (DTZ). 

DTZ is a company formed in the early 1980s by the late former PF ZAPU leader and veteran nationalist Joshua Nkomo to spearhead development projects in Zimbabwe. 

Msika was a high ranking PF ZAPU official before the opposition party merged with President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF in an uneasy Unity Accord signed between the two parties in 1987. 

Plans by the government to annex the property have in the past triggered bitter emotions among former PF ZAPU members who accuse ZANU PF members of violating the spirit of the Unity Accord. 

According to documents shown to ZimOnline yesterday, Chiwewe last November wrote a letter to Land Reform Minister Didymus Mutasa demanding that the government acquire Nuanetsi ranch to resettle thousands of villagers in the area. 

“We have realised that the Nuanetsi ranch is lying idle and the Masvingo political leadership would want it to be designated for resettlement. It would be unfair to leave such land idle when thousands of Zimbabweans need land,” says Chiwewe in the letter then. 

ZimOnline understands that Mutasa has since advised Chiwewe not to proceed with plans to resettle villagers at Nuanetsi saying the issue was “a hot potato” which could threaten the Unity Accord. 

Sources within the government said Msika was not prepared to move an inch to surrender the property. 

“Nuanetsi ranch is owned by DTZ, a black-owned company and if we designate that land, who are we empowering? We cannot take land from a black man and give it to another black man. 

“If there is anyone trying to do something there tell him he is wasting his time because that land was bought and cannot just be given to people without any justification,” said Msika. 

Contacted for comment, Chiwewe confirmed the impasse between himself and Msika but was quick to say the matter was being resolved at a “higher level.” 

“It is true that we wanted to designate the Nuanetsi ranch to resettle people there for the government to grow crops under the Masvingo food initiative. 

“When we applied to have the Nuanetsi ranch designated it was not based on tribal lines. It was a genuine request that I still feel should be considered. But as it stands, the issue is being resolved at a higher level,” said Chiwewe. 

Nuanetsi ranch is among the biggest properties in Zimbabwe. 

Zimbabwe’s land reform programme has been dogged by problems since it began some seven years ago. Zimbabwe has battled severe food shortages over the past seven years because the new black farmers allocated land have failed to maintain production on the former white farms. 

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party has accused Mugabe of parceling out land to his cronies in government and the military at the expense of landless villagers. Mugabe denies the charge. - ZimOnline