By Princess Eugene Majuru, Princess of Harare
Masvingo – The unfolding dispute between Chief Murinye and Prophet Walter Magaya’s associate Mutangiri in Masvingo is more than a local disagreement. It speaks to a growing national crisis: the erosion of traditional authority, the commercialisation of rural land, and the marginalisation of local communities in the name of “development”.
For years, traditional leaders have watched their authority steadily undermined. Today, with economic pressures pushing urban residents back into rural areas, a new scramble for rural land has emerged. People are buying, selling, and developing land as if it were private property, often sidelining chiefs who are, by law and tradition, the custodians of communal land. This trend threatens to turn rural Zimbabwe into a free-for-all where money, influence, and political connections override culture, history, and governance.
Development for Whom?
At the centre of the Masvingo issue is a boarding school built in Chief Murinye’s jurisdiction. On the surface, some argue this is development. But development must be interrogated, not blindly celebrated. The key question remains: who benefits?
If the school is private, charging high fees, and enrolling children largely from Harare and other urban centres, what tangible benefit does it bring to the local community? Development that excludes locals is not development—it is extraction. It uses rural land, rural silence, and rural patience while profits and privileges flow elsewhere.
Critical questions must be asked:
Did Mutangiri buy the land, or was it allocated?
If it was allocated, by whom, and under what authority?
Was the local community consulted?
What compensation or benefit-sharing model was agreed upon, if any?
These are not trivial concerns. They go to the heart of land governance and accountability.
The Role of the Chief as Custodian of Land
Chief Murinye is well within his rights to raise his voice. Chiefs are not ceremonial figures; they are custodians of land held in trust for present and future generations. When land is taken or repurposed without clear, mutual benefit, it sets a dangerous precedent. If one individual can establish a lucrative private institution on communal land with little to no obligation to locals, then every wealthy or well-connected person will follow suit.
Soon, chiefs will be reduced to spectators in their own territories.
What Should Locals Gain?
If indeed the school is a profit-making institution, then a portion of that profit must be reinvested in the community. A reasonable and ethical proposal would be:
At least 100–150 local children receiving free or fully sponsored education
Priority enrolment for children from the chief’s jurisdiction
Employment opportunities for locals
Community infrastructure support linked to the school’s presence
It is difficult to understand why the chief’s own children—or children from surrounding villages—should remain excluded from a school built on their ancestral land. Development must uplift the host community first before serving outsiders.
A Call for Collective Action by Traditional Leaders
Chief Murinye should not stand alone. Other chiefs across the country must support him, not necessarily because of personal alliances, but because the principle at stake affects them all. If this issue is ignored, tomorrow it will be another chief, another district, another community.
Traditional leaders must collectively assert that:
No major development in rural areas should proceed without clear local benefits
Chiefs must be consulted and respected as lawful custodians of communal land
Development without inclusion is unacceptable
The Masvingo issue is a warning. Rural Zimbabwe is under pressure—from urban migration, economic desperation, and opportunistic development. If traditional leaders do not assert their authority now, they risk losing it entirely. Development must not become a new form of dispossession.
Chief Murinye is not resisting progress; he is demanding fairness, respect, and accountability. That is a stand worth supporting.
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