Scores of villagers in Chirumanzu -Zibangwe constituency recently turned down their village sub chief’s proposal to donate to the flood victims of Tokwe Mukosi.

Speaking to the Zimbabwe Sentinel, villagers who attended a meeting with sub chief, Chigabe expressed dismay over the way in he appeared to be trying to swindle them of their hard earned grain under the guise of seeking donations for the stranded villagers of Tokwe –Mukosi basin.

Munyaradzi Mhlolo, who hails from village 23 said, “We might be residing in the fringes but we are not fools. This is day light robbery and we can’t allow such a thing to happen. “Last year we contributed a lot of maize which he said was meant for ‘zhunde ramambo’ and up to date he has not accounted for that maize . If I were to contribute to this initiative he should take my share from the Zhunde ramambo contributions,” said Mhlolo.

Another village who spoke on condition of anonymity accused Chigabe of not being honest “Something fishy is going on. You can’t force people to donate. Furthermore you can’t ask people to take those contributions to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), the grain should be taken straight to Tokwe Mukosi why taking it to GMB?,” he asked.

Mirima Mapfumo of village 16 echoed the above sentiments when she said that people are not obliged to donate while insisting that well-wishers were free to do so.

“Donations are not only restricted to maize as he claimed but you donate what you have,” she said.

The sub chief who claims that the initiative is a response to a request from the president’s office dismally failed to give villagers reasons to believe his proposed initiative.

Mr Chigabe, the sub chief refused to comment on the issue. He indicated that he is not allowed to talk to the media.

The sub chief was demanding for a 20kg of maize from each homestead from about 7 villages with each village holding up to 35 homesteads.