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Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
GOKWE Town Council (GTC) in the Midlands province will incorporate an informal settlement into its jurisdiction. The local authority and the Kambasha community have been at loggerheads over boundary disputes for the past 15 years.

GTC and Kambasha villagers who were under Chief Njelele have been accusing each other of encroaching into each other’s territories.

As a result, Kambasha villagers could not benefit from GTC programmes such as devolution while the local authority could not charge them rates, losing potential revenue in the process.

The conflict between the two parties was resolved after an intervention by a local non-governmental organisation – Centre for Conflict Management and Transformation (CCMT).

The successful resolution of a 15-year-old land dispute through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between GTC and Kambasha community was held at Gokwe Centre.

Villagers of Kambasha had been involved in a dispute with GTC which was been given ownership of the land after being accorded town status in 2006.

The conflict intensified in recent years as the local authority sought to expand Gokwe town centre, including by integrating Kambasha community, a move which the Kambasha community had been resisting.

The resolution of the dispute, will see at least 120 households in Kambasha community being given first preference to purchase residential stands of various sizes on the land, which has now been incorporated into GTC Master Plan.

Speaking during the signing ceremony, GTC chairperson Councillor Never Gwanzura said the agreement will pave way for development in Kambasha.

“This is a great development for both the villagers and council. We can now expect positive change in Kambasha as a result of the development. This agreement should mark the end of protracted disputes between council and the Kashamba community,” he said.

CCMT coordinator Mr Xavier Mudangwe said the organisation was honoured to have played a part in the resolution of the conflict.

“As CCMT we are happy that we managed to unite Kambasha community and GTC because it is rare to settle such conflicts,” he said.

Mr Mudangwe said the MOU is a huge milestone for CCMT’s interventions in the Midlands province. He said the aim is to ensure continuation of such interventions with the remaining cases within the district and hoping that such an approach will also be emulated by other local authorities trying to address such issues across the country.

“In so doing, as CCMT, we are complementing Government policy and efforts such as the recently adopted Zimbabwe National Human Settlements Policy, which seeks to regularise and resuscitate dysfunctional settlements into modern, habitable settlements,” he said.

Mr Xavier Mudangwe

Gokwe South District Development Coordinator (DDC) Mrs Thandiwe Dera said they were grateful that through CCMT’s intervention, an agreement has been reached and the Kambasha community which was previously regarded as an illegal settlement has now been incorporated into GTC.

“We are grateful to our partners, CCMT for facilitating this process which resolved what threatened to degenerate into a violent confrontation between Kambasha community and GTC.”

“We hope they will continue to help us to resolve the other remaining cases so we can develop our district in line with Vision 2030.”

Chief Njelele, who was also in attendance, said he was happy with the support proffered by CCMT and the cooperation between his community members and GTC.

“My hope and challenge to the beneficiaries of this process is that now that this dispute has been resolved amicably, you can now start building proper houses so that families can live happily and safely,” he said.