President Emmerson Mnangagwa promised to relocate people in Manicaland living in areas prone to natural disasters after consulting with traditional leaders.
He said this soon after arrival in Mutare on Wednesday during a briefing with the provincial Department of Civil Protection officials.
President Mnangagwa is due to meet 13 chiefs from Chimanimani and Chipinge whose areas were affected by Tropical Cyclone Idai. He said:
We have also come back to meet with traditional leaders in Chimanimani and Chipinge.
As leadership, we realised that when the disaster occurred, we all focused on helping those affected.
We proceeded to bury the dead where the need is and remove those whom we considered being in unsafe areas.
We also planned to move people to other places with the will to mitigate any further attacks from cyclones.
But in doing this, we overlooked the need to inform the chiefs that this is what we are doing.
We are moving people from places that they have traditionally belonged, where their ancestors are. We should make sure we follow tradition. We should not trample on people’s traditions.