Godfrey Mtimba
Masvingo—The High Court in Masvingo has quashed a ruling by a Bikita magistrate to evict about 27 families from Murape village to pave way for Bikita Minerals, a Chinese lithium entity.
The villagers were arrested and recently appeared before Bikita magistrate, Rutendo Jakati, after a dispute over the village that shares a boundary with the mine.
As reported by News Hub last September, Bikita Minerals was insisting that the Murape villagers were located in an area belonging to it.
On the other hand, the villagers maintained that the area was given to them for resettlement by the government in 2000 during the fast track land redistribution programme.
Justice Helen Charewa, sitting with Sunsley Zisengwe, has quashed the evictions on the basis that there is no evidence to support the claim that the village was gazetted for mining by Bikita Minerals.
Martin Mureri, who represented the villagers, confirmed the development.
“It’s true the matter was heard…at the High Court and that the ruling (of the magistrate) was set aside. The judges found no evidence that the land was gazetted,” said Mureri.
The High Court ruling brought relief to the villagers who were settled in the area over two decades ago.
“This is a relief as we had nowhere to go and we were being victimised by the Chinese company,” said a villager who preferred anonymity.
The Bikita Residents and Ratepayers Association (BIRRA) secretary general, Brilliant Mukaro, welcome the ruling.
“This is good news to hapless Murape villagers who had been tormented and persecuted over cooked- up charges. They deserve to stay in their land,” said Mukaro.
The Bikita Minerals spokesperson, Collen Nikisi, was not available for comment but he told this reporter last year that his company was not involved in attempts to evict the villagers.
“We are not the complainant in the issue, so how are we involved?” he said.
However, local human rights pressure group, Bikita Institute of Land Development (BILAD) insisted that the miner influenced the attempted evictions from behind the curtains.
News Hub last year revealed that Bikita Minerals had cut the villagers off a communal water source, forcing them to travel some 4 kilometers to Badmore Primary School in search of the precious liquid.
More than 12 families had already been displaced after Bikita Minerals dug a trench that surrounded their homes, cutting off access to their agricultural fields.
Since their resettlement in 2000 as part of the land reform programme, the Murape villagers enjoyed peaceful co-existence with the previous owners of Bikita Minerals.
However, the situation took a turn for the worse two years ago when Sinomine Resources Group inherited the company, leading to tensions and conflicts that have disrupted the lives of the local community.
A senior manager at Bikita Minerals revealed that the decision to dig trenches along the mine’s boundaries, which has impacted nearby villagers and poses a risk to animals and human beings, was proposed by the Joint Operations Command (JOC).
The JOC brings together representatives of the army, police and central intelligence, together with related security organs.
The trench, it was established, was dug to curb the widespread theft of lithium from the mine, as the trenches will hinder vehicles from accessing the area to load the mineral.