MANANJE Conservancy in Beitbridge is under siege yet again
as the fight to take over the wildlife sanctuary from Ian Ferguson intensifies.
The picturesque Mananje Conservancy on Denlynian Farm, 36km
west of Beitbridge along the Bulawayo Road, which is home to a variety of
animals including the zebra, impala, giraffe, eland, leopard and a number of
bird species, faces an uncertain future after being hit by a series of
invasions that have negatively affected operations on the once-thriving game
ranch.
The 17 500 ha conservancy, bought by Ferguson in 1985 after
government indicated it had no interest in acquiring the land, has been invaded
several times since 2000, with the most recent being last month.
“A group of people arrived at one of the conservancy base
camps in a police-registered Ford Ranger driven by Superintendent Percy Ndou,”
Ferguson said.
“The invasion leader was Steven Mohadi, the younger brother
of State Security minister Kembo Mohadi and they had seven arbitrary so-called
employees with them as they always do to bolster their numbers.”
“They claimed they had been sent by the lands officer
Mtulisi Moyo in Beitbridge to evict all the conservancy staff from the property
immediately to enable their employees to occupy their quarters as they were
taking the property over.
“The conservancy staff refused to vacate their quarters and
locked the doors and just ignored the ranting and raving by Steven Mohadi and
some of the employees for most of the day.”
Ferguson said the conservancy staff overheard Steven Mohadi
telling the driver of the vehicle that they should leave, taking their
employees with them as he feared that the animals on the property might attack
them.
“It was found later by the game scouts that the invaders
had smashed the lock and chain on the conservancy entrance gate and on leaving
they had put on their own lock and chain,” Ferguson said.
“The police were informed of the event and advised the
warden to report to the nearest police base when the charge of malicious damage
to property and illegal entry was laid.”
Ferguson pointed out that the invasion had the same
objective as the invasion that took place in January which was to evict all the
conservancy staff from the property and to occupy all the base camps.
“It turned out then to be in anticipation of a visit by the
national lands committee sent down “unannounced” by the minister of Lands, and
apparently tasked to check the situation on the ground.
“The local lands officer wanted to make sure that the
property would be seen to be occupied by so called settlers and that there were
no Conservancy staff on the property,” Ferguson alleged.
He added that the national lands committee members didn’t
contribute anything at the meeting and seemed to have been brought down with a
number of senior officials and police to merely give credence, to what Ferguson
alleged, became apparent was Dendere’s agenda to legitimise the occupation of
the 20 or so illegal occupants on the conservancy as well as 75 offer letter
holders issued in 2002 and 15 in 2005.
Ferguson accused Dendere of being “extremely hostile to the
point of being abusive with racial overtones”.
The invasions have continued despite Ferguson’s please to
vice presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko to intervene. Standard
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