Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF youths have threatened to invade some of the farms owned by the party’s top brass, saying they were tired of being “used like condoms”.
According to New Zimbabwe, Zanu-PF’s Manicaland youth chairperson Mabuso Chinguno said that it was unfair that young people who had helped top party officials to “seize land from white farmers” were themselves without farms.
Chinguno warned that the youths were planning an “invasion type of allocation” if residential stands promised to them by party leaders were not allocated to them before the upcoming Zanu-PF conference in December.
He called on the ruling Zanu-PF leaders to fast track the allocation of the residential stands in order to calm the restive youths.
“We appeal to the leadership to allocate the youths their stands before we go to Masvingo conference. I am being questioned everyday on social media on the issue to do with the allocation of stands. Some of the youths are even thinking they were duped and this was just a political gimmick. Some are saying the stands were sold long back and, as executive, we are being blamed left, right and centre,” Chinguno was quoted as saying.
New Zimbabwe report, the youths had also written to the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management, demanding that part of the Nyanga National Park be subdivided into residential stands.
They again claimed that the land had been promised to them by party officials.
Nyanga is one of the tourist destinations in the Manicaland province, attracting a number of domestic and international tourists, the report said.
According to local media reports, Zanu-PF allegedly made available a total of 1 300 hectares of land in Bulawayo and Harare for residential stands for youths in the party structures.
Zanu-PF youth secretary Kudzanai Chipanga, revealed to thousands of party supporters from across the country in August that the Bulawayo Metropolitan province had been given 300 hectares of land while the Harare Metropolitan Province received 1000 hectares, according to a Herald newspaper report.
However, it remained unclear whether the youth who were set to benefit from the scheme had received any residential stands.
Over the past months, reports said that Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwereallegedly dished out state-owned land to famous church leader Walter Magaya. The report also said that while he was the minister of youth, he secured a loan for his brother Tongai, who has since failed to settle it.
This reportedly led to President Robert Mugabe grilling Kasukuwere.
