July Moyo President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government was forced to hold crisis meetings after a controversial edict paving the way for the eviction of thousands of Chiredzi villagers caused an uproar. The government wants to remove the more than 12 000 Chilonga villagers from their ancestral lands to make way for a lucerne grass project by a Kwekwe-based dairy firm, Dendairy. On Friday, a Masvingo magistrate temporarily stopped the evictions after ruling that the government should show cause why it was ejecting villagers from Chilonga communal lands. This followed a joint court application by the Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders Network and the Centre for Natural Resource Governance on behalf of the villagers.