Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister Ellen Gwaradzimba is
in another farm eviction storm — this time involving 21 villagers who allege
she is encroaching into their land to expand her Penhalonga farm.
They claim to have assisted her family wrestle the farm
from its former white owner and even showing her the farm’s boundary with
Zengeni Village whose part she now claims to be hers. The villagers were this
week issued with seven-day eviction notices giving them until March 19 to leave
the land or face arrest in the messy fallout.
“You are violating section 3 of the Gazetted Lands
(Consequential Provisions) Act Chapter 20:20; Gazetted Land Act in that you are
occupying the said property (Zengeni Farm) without lawful authority,” reads
part of the generic letter which was stamped on November 13, 2018 but filled in
on March 12, 2019.
They have, however, been already on trial at Mutasa
Magistrates’ Courts for the “illegal occupation” of the farm, having had a
civil suit against them withdrawn as the Lands ministry took over the
long-standing dispute following her ministerial appointment.
The villagers, who are all self-confessed Zanu PF
supporters with some being members of the Zimbabwe Liberation War Collaborators
Association (Ziliwaco), say they are now a laughing stoke of opposition members
and were also being chided by the white farmer whom they say is also waiting
for his turn to reclaim the farm.
“We feel betrayed by someone we helped to settle in our area
as a neighbour and now we are being mocked for bringing this on ourselves.
“Even the white commercial farmer would not have encroached into our village
like what the minister has done,”
Ownered Zengeni, one of the affected villagers, said. He said they have
long been allocated land in Nyamukwarara where there are no roads or amenities
with dozens of children’s education set to be disrupted.
“There are so many anomalies in how our case is being
handled. How could they have allocated us land before the criminal
trial at Mutasa Magistrates’ Courts is even concluded?” Zengeni queried.
Gwaradzimba’s aide and family member said the families were
squatters who had encroached onto the minister’s property but the villagers
claim she applied for an extension of her farm to encompass their village.
“Those people are settled on the minister’s farm and we
have documentation to prove that,” the family representative said referring all
questions to the Lands ministry. Zengeni claims the affected villagers used to
be contracted by the Gwaradzimba family to work on their farm before they
decided to take over their land in the farm extension.
“We used to be very good neighbours when they initially
moved on to the farm but they were to later decide to use their positions of
authority to kick us out and take over the whole land,” a miffed Zengeni said.
Daily News
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