Civil society organisations have stepped up efforts to ensure communities affected by the Gwayi-Shangani Dam project understand the government’s Master Plan and have a meaningful say in decisions around displacement, relocation, compensation and livelihoods.
The Gwayi-Shangani Master Plan, prepared by the Department of Spatial Planning and Development in Matabeleland North in May 2026, covers 92 148 hectares across parts of Binga, Lupane and Hwange districts. Ward 20 in Binga is specifically included in the planning area.
The Zimbabwe Resilience Network (ZIREN), working with Basilwizi Trust and supported by ActionAid Zimbabwe, has begun unpacking the Master Plan with communities in Lubimbi, Binga.
The initiative seeks to bridge the information gap between government planning processes and communities directly affected by the project, while strengthening residents’ ability to engage authorities and demand accountability.
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The Gwayi-Shangani Dam is viewed as a long-term solution to Bulawayo’s water challenges and, according to the Master Plan, will become Zimbabwe’s second-largest inland water body after Tugwi-Mukosi.
The initiative comes against the backdrop of the government’s acknowledgement that the dam project will result in displacement, relocation, loss of livelihoods and loss of heritage.
According to the Master Plan, the Gwayi-Shangani Dam has a catchment area of 7 120 square kilometres, a water storage capacity of 1 802 600 000 cubic metres, a yield of 340 000 000 cubic metres and hydro-electric power potential of 10 megawatts (MW).
Zimbabwe Resilience Network coordinator Diana Tsitsi Harahwa said the engagement was aimed at ensuring communities understood the implications of the development project and were able to participate meaningfully in decisions affecting them.
“The Gwayi-Shangani Dam is a development project with significant civil protection and disaster-risk implications, and the Master Plan, we believe, serves as an important planning and protection tool for Lubimbi, Ward 20, Binga, which is going to be displaced by the dam project,” she said.
Harahwa said the organisation was unpacking the Master Plan with the Lubimbi community because residents should be fully informed, meaningfully engaged and able to understand what the plan means for their rights, land, livelihoods and future.
“Our dialogue is placing particular attention on young people, especially young women, because they are often among those who experience the longer-term social and economic impacts of displacement and development projects, yet their voices and priorities can easily be overlooked in planning processes,” she said.
“From the outside, Gwayi-Shangani Dam may simply be seen as a major development project bringing water, infrastructure and economic opportunities. However, for communities such as Lubimbi, the story is more complex.
“Development can also bring changes to land, livelihoods, access to resources, settlement patterns and community life. For people who have already experienced displacement, it is important that development does not come at the expense of their rights and security.”
Harahwa said the engagement was therefore about ensuring that communities were not merely recipients of development, but active participants in shaping it.
“We want young people, especially young women, to understand the Master Plan, engage with the process, raise their concerns and priorities, and contribute to its implementation.”
“Ultimately, we want to see the Master Plan adequately financed and implemented in a way that balances development with the protection of communities and ensures that the benefits of development are realised without leaving affected communities behind,” she said.
The government’s Gwayi-Shangani Master Plan says the dam is expected to generate major economic opportunities through agriculture, tourism, mining, fishing, wildlife and value addition. However, it acknowledges that construction has also resulted in “displacement and relocation of people, deterioration of livelihoods and loss of heritage.”
It notes that people being displaced are losing their connection to land on which they have settled and farmed for generations.
The Master Plan identifies Ward 20 in Binga as one of six wards within the planning area. It records a population of 5 163 people in the ward, comprising 2 313 males and 2 850 females, living in 1 106 households, with an average household size of five people.
It further states that about 420 households across the Gwayi-Shangani planning area are likely to be directly affected by rising flood levels.
For Lubimbi, the implications extend beyond the loss of homes and fields.
The Master Plan says the existing Gwayi-Lubimbi-Binga road will be closed because it will be submerged, requiring an alternative access route for people in the Lubimbi area.
It specifically states that about 7.5 kilometres of the Gwayi-Lubimbi road, together with the Shangani Bridge crossing to Lubimbi, will be submerged under water.
The document also describes Lubimbi as facing serious transport challenges because of its distance from the main highway, while its access road is a gravel road in poor condition.
Education is another major concern.
The Master Plan identifies Lubimbi Primary School as one of the facilities that will be submerged by the dam.
It also records Lubimbi Primary School in Ward 20 as one of the schools serving communities within the planning area and says plans should be put in place to construct new schools because populations in affected areas are expected to increase.
The Master Plan also highlights the importance of livelihoods in affected communities. It says people in the planning area depend on rain-fed crop production, including cotton, maize, millet, sorghum and groundnuts, as well as livestock production involving cattle, goats, donkeys and chickens.
Communities also engage in wetland cultivation and micro-gardening. Retailing, fishing and other small businesses are among the other economic activities, including those practised at Lubimbi Business Centre.
This makes the question of what displaced communities will receive in return for lost land and livelihoods particularly important.
Pottar Muzamba, programmes coordinator at Basilwizi Trust, said unpacking the Master Plan was critical to ensuring that affected communities understood what displacement would mean and could hold authorities accountable.
“Unpacking the Gwayi-Shangani Master Plan to Lubimbi communities affected by the dam hazard plays a critical function in the relocation discourse. Firstly, it upholds the right to information by sharing information with affected communities to promote procedural justice, the right to participation and informed decision-making.
“Secondly, it clarifies the magnitude and consequences of involuntary displacement, as well as the issues of distributive justice and compensation — addressing how the costs and benefits of the dam are allocated and how affected populations are supported in the aftermath of relocation,” he said.
Muzamba said understanding the plan enabled affected community members to identify what they stood to lose and whether proposed compensation and livelihood-restoration measures adequately addressed those losses.
“Thirdly, it protects cultural identity and heritage — recognitive justice. The Master Plan informs the communities about the affected tangible and intangible heritage and the roadmaps for managing it.”
“Fourthly, unpacking the Master Plan affords communities the opportunity to identify gaps in the proposed resettlement continuum and negotiate for adequate access to land, water, education, health services, grazing areas, cultural sites and livelihood opportunities,” he said.
Muzamba said the process promoted transparency and accountability in relocation, thereby advancing relocation justice.
“Accessing the Master Plan allows the community to compare government commitments with what is actually planned. By doing so, you will build trust between communities and leadership,” he said.
The Master Plan acknowledges that displacement could have consequences beyond physical relocation.
It states that people leaving their homes may leave behind sacred shrines and family graves, which it identifies as a major concern in Zimbabwean culture. It further warns that displacement can expose affected communities to health, psychological, economic, social and cultural shocks.
The Master Plan identifies heritage sites of national, regional and local importance, including sacred shrines, indigenous forests, protected indigenous trees, traditional institutions and traditional practices.
It says two shrines will go under water and traditional rites will have to be performed before the sites are moved to new locations.
The report also concludes that flooding, the establishment of recreational parks, irrigation schemes and a new town will lead to further displacement of households, with most households expected to be resettled at Nakanono resettlement area.
At the same time, the Master Plan projects significant economic opportunities from the dam, including irrigation, tourism, fishing, aquaculture and energy generation. It identifies about 12 400 hectares of potentially irrigable land in Matabeleland North, including 5 680 hectares in Binga.
For affected communities, however, the key question is whether they will benefit from those opportunities or remain on the margins of a development project that fundamentally changes their way of life.
The Master Plan itself says one of the urgent issues is addressing population movements and displacement arising from the proposed developments. It also states that the plan should ensure maximum benefit to communities directly affected by the dam through basic services, employment creation and infrastructure development.
The community engagement therefore seeks to turn the Master Plan from a government planning document into a tool that affected residents can use to understand, question and engage with the relocation process.
For a Lubimbi villager, the dam is not simply a national infrastructure project promising water and economic growth. It is also a project that threatens to submerge homes, roads, a school, livelihoods and elements of the community’s cultural heritage.
The Master Plan recognises both sides of that reality. The challenge now, according to the civil society organisations engaging the community, is ensuring that the people who bear the greatest costs of the project are also given a meaningful voice in determining how they are relocated, compensated and supported to rebuild their lives.
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