Zimbabwe: Resettlement Schemes Poisoned Chalice

LAST week's ceremony at Bimi Farm in Murehwa district where Lafarge Cement unveiled a US$350 000 model village for people displaced by the company's mining operations at their original home in Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe was characterised by joy and appreciation rare among ordinary Zimbabwean villagers wallowing in poverty and misery.

The spontaneous clapping, ululating and dancing, as well as praises for God and ancestors characterised the event where 35-year-old Spiwe Kagonda and nine other families received a three-bedroomed house, a thatched kitchen and blair toilet valued at US$32 000 per household.

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