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Government has shelved the relocation of nearly 800 families of the Chitsa clan who have been staying near Gonarezhou National Park because they have valid offer letters to live on that land.

The State says the area occupied by the families is not within Gonarezhou and will not affect the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park.

The Transfrontier Park brings together Gonarezhou, Mozambique’s Limpopo National Park and the Kruger National Park of South Africa.

The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park will be the world’s biggest wildlife sanctuary on completion.

Masvingo Provincial Governor and Resident Minister Titus Maluleke said the Chitsa families would not be relocated as they lived beyond the park’s boundaries.

"The families have valid offer letters and there is no rationale in relocating them.

"There is also no need to move them on the basis that they are settled inside the game park and they will not in anyway affect the creation of the Transfrontier Park," Governor Maluleke said.

The families had launched a spirited fight against Government’s initial decision to move them to the nearby Chizvirizvi Ranch. Government was struggling to raise money to fund the relocations.

The clan accused the Ian Smith regime of conning them out of their land by claiming the area was infested with tsetse flies before pegging it for Gonarezhou National Park.

The families moved back onto the land in 2000.