-as 13 arrested for being on state land
MIDWEEK REPORTER
MASVINGO-While it is given that all citizens, mainly the indigenous community are guaranteed of land following its repossession from the minority white settlers, this is not so for some Zimbabweans around the country as they are facing the proverbial Animal Farm predicament.
Thirteen villagers who thought they had been given land to carry out their farming activities following the famous Svosve land repossession which was condemned by the late strongman, President Mugabe, who later made a U-turn and encouraged jambanja style land takeover.
Mugabe was forced by politics of the day to support the unplanned land reform as the then strong MDC was threatening to redistribute land once in power.
Mugabe went on to encourage anyone who cared to take land from the settlers and the 13 villagers at Lochnivar Extension Farm felt it was also their birth right to share the cake and they went on parcel the farm amongst themselves.
On Decemeber 19, they woke up to find the Police on their doorsteps at 6am, they were all rounded up and locked in filthy cells at Masvingo Central for occupying state land.
This is not an isolated incident as the country is littered with such cases where the big fish randomly remove powerless villagers whenever they feel they need the land for their selfish needs.
They evoke the law and nothing happens to them as the saying goes, the law is for the rich and when the rich take from the poor it is called business, but when the poor demand a piece of the cake it is called violence and theft.
On Christmas eve War Veterans Minister Monica Mvhunga foiled an eviction party comprising lands officials, the police, messenger of court and traditional leaders who wanted to chase away A1 villagers settled at Saratoga farm, 46km from the capital along Shamva road under Goromonzi District.
In Mashonalnd West Province business tycoon Phillip Chiyangwa is embroiled in a messy land dispute involving A1 farmers whom he allege that they settled themselves on his farm.
The 13, Tasara Muguti (60) a lecturer at Great Zimbabwe University, James Takaendesa (67) Kumbirai Musoni (51) Henry Basira (43) Barbilon Muchakachi (28) Cephas Machingambi (69), Nelia Magudu (51), Yvonne Chiwedze (32), Lucia Gwenzi (65), Kudzai Muganyi (33) Lilian Chapungu (27) Viginia Ngara (20) and Martin Takaendesa (45) spend a night in the cells before they were hauled before the Magistrates Court and given free bail.
Former Masvingo City Mayor Advocate Collin Maboke represented the 13 who were charged with Contravening Section 3 (1) of the Gazetted Land (Consequential Provisions) Act Chapter 202:28 as read with Section 3 (4) of the Act.
Their charge sheet read, “The accused persons … being occupier of the State land under Lochnivar area, Masvingo, unlawfully held, used or occupied State land, that is to say the accused persons are holding, using or occupying part of Lochnivar which is State Land.”
They will be back in court on January 17, 2025.
The affected villagers occupied the plots during the early day of the fast track land reform program and some have children and grandchildren who grew up in the area.
Joseph Mangwende a social worker based in Chiredzi said, there is nothing puzzling about the way the land reform is being handled because the rich are always eyeing prime land for their selfish benefits and whenever they identify one they invoke the law through the relevant authorities in order to sanitise their gargantuan greediness.
“I have worked in Mashonaland West Province where a certain politician (name supplied) changed farms 7 times before settling on his current farm, in the process he was evicting poor villagers who had been resettled but the government would look aside while he was doing what he wanted or they would simply evoke the law.
“If the government is not careful the land reform may not end well and it will be a source of endless conflicts as families and clans will be fighting for the best land available claiming that it was given to them by the state or ancestral land.
“The root cause of these conflicts being witnessed today is that the land reform was politicized as Mugabe embarked on the program because he was facing loss of power from the MDC which was advocating for equitable land redistribution,” said Mangwende.
Meanwhile, The Midweek Watch is reliably informed that there is a bank owned by one of the wealthiest persons in the country that bought part of Mangwandi area for its employees’ accommodation and wants to relocate people from that area to Lochnivar farm and a top ranking official is heavily involved in the deal.
Efforts to get a comment from lands officials were unsuccessful as they said the case is before the courts hence they could not comment.
