FIRST Lady Grace Mugabe has ordered the destruction of 100 households in a Mazowe suburb to make way for the expansion of the orphanage she is building in the area.

Although the affected households have been promised land elsewhere, anxiety has gripped the suburb after the residents were given notices to vacate their houses to make way for the extension of the orphanage she is struggling to build in the farming town in Mashonaland Central.

Some of the residents said they bought their stands way back in 1998 from the Mazowe Rural District Council and had completed building their homes but others were still at foundation level.

The residents said Grace Mugabe cherry-picked the area, in the manner many Zanu PF activists did on farms, despite the fact that desperate home-seekers had already been allocated stands there.

"I had already finished building my house but she is forcing me out," said a visibly troubled middle-aged woman, who requested anonymity for fear of victimisation.

"She is making economic orphans to make way for other orphans."

She said she was not sure whether she would be allocated another piece of land or even, importantly, be compensated.

Another victim, a 39-year-old man, said he did not believe the First Lady wanted to build an orphanage that would benefit orphans.

"If she is that kind why did she choose an area that was already occupied?

"Sally Mugabe (President Mugabe's late wife) never invaded other people's properties to help poor children.

"She must be up to something," said the man.

President Mugabe's first wife is renowned for having had a soft heart for disadvantaged members of the community, especially children.

Grace Mugabe's centre was supposed to be officially opened in 2008 but this was put on hold as construction was still underway.

When The Standard news crew visited the centre on Friday armed police were not allowing anyone inside without permission from the site manager who was unavailable.

But there was little activity to show that the centre would be opened to orphans any time soon.

Local council officials remained tight-lipped about the project saying it was a "sensitive" issue.

Liberty Mufandaedza, the Mazowe council's chief executive officer only said residents would be allocated new residential stands.

"We will soon be showing them where they will be relocated," said Mufandaedza referring further questions to the council chairman.

Council chairman Richard Mudavanhu was also afraid to comment saying: "Small as I am, I can't comment on such a big project. Talk to the governor."

Mashonaland Central governor Martin Dinha said the opening of the centre had been delayed because of the economic meltdown caused by sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West.

He said construction had resumed and the centre would be opened soon.

Dinha said the council had identified an area to relocate "60 households" while working on compensation modalities.

Asked why Grace chose an area already allocated to desperate home-seekers, Dinha chose to shoulder the blame.

"We as a province, valued so much the development and construction of an orphanage and a secondary school by the First Lady that we offered her land to benefit orphans," said Dinha.

"But it does not mean we will neglect our people. We will house them elsewhere."

When complete the state-of-the-art orphanage centre, named Amitofo Care Centre, established in 2006, would consist of 30 five-bed houses.

Each would accommodate 20 children under the care of two foster parents.

Probed if the centre would also take children whose parents were murdered in the run-up to the violent March and June 2008 elections, Dinha professed ignorance of any politically-motivated murders.

"I am not aware of any children orphaned due to violence during that time.

"What I can confirm is that there was inter-party violence which has since been addressed with the coming in of the global political agreement."

MDC-T says at least 200 of its activists were killed by Zanu PF militia and State security agents mostly in Mashonaland Central and East during that time.

By The Standard