BY PHILLAN ZAMCHIYA I ARGUE for a moratorium on the continued rise of large-scale acquisitions of customary land for private ”investments“ in the marginalised rural areas of Zimbabwe to allow for a post-colonial democratic national resolution of the three issues articulated below. The latest such unchallenged trend is epitomised by the recently gazetted Statutory Instrument 50 of 2021. This Communal Land (Setting Aside of Land) (Chiredzi,) Notice, 2021) by Local Government, Rural and Urban Development minister orders about 12 000 people occupying or using 12 940 hectares of customary land in Chilonga communal area in Chiredzi to depart immediately and permanently. This is meant to pave way for lucerne grass farming by Dendairy Private Limited. This is a company in Zimbabwe which produces dairy products. For emphasis, this is not an isolated case, as land rights holders — vulnerable women and men living on marginal customary land — face similar types of evictions in marginal places like Hwange and Chipinge districts. Now to the reasons. First, the government is partly basing its decision on a narrow belief that private big estates are the only  vehicle for economic transformation despite widespread evidence to their detrimental effects on the vulnerable people’s diverse livelihoods on the African continent. In line with this narrow pathway, the  Local Government minister, July Moyo, romanticised such land acquisition in Chilonga as a way to ensure big livestock production and generate foreign currency for the nation. Conversely, the  government portrays modes of production by the Shangaan people in Chilonga as pristine and unable  to drive economic rural development. This approach is problematic because it is premised on a narrow development transition pathway that envisions big companies (like Dendairy Pvt Ltd) led farming in the countryside as the only viable model or the real deal. The logic also reflects some of the flawed modernisation narratives of the colonial era, 40 years after gaining independence from British colonial rule. However, from the rich empirical data on livelihoods gathered by Masvingo Centre for Research Advocacy and Development (MACRAD, p3) the people of Chilonga are already involved in diverse  crop farming and livestock production. They are producing sorghum ( xibedlani, xitishi and mutode), millet (mahuvu and mpowo), some maize, sweet potatoes, cotton, pumpkins (mandunghu) and groundnuts (timanga). They also own cattle, sheep and close to 100% of the households own goats. Why then would the government choose to destroy and disrupt local livelihoods? One alternative pathway to rural development would also require an emphasis on development projects that ensure that men and women living in rural areas do not lose their customary land. For the avoidance  of doubt, this is not an argument to maintain the status quo, or to preserve low productivity in Zimbabwe’s marginalised rural areas. For those who intend to create a straw man, I am not saying private investments in agriculture in the countrys