A FRESH wave of farm takeovers facilitated by government
has intensified under the guise of trimming farm sizes, sparking fears of a
renewed assault on white farmers, who feel besieged and are now rushing to
court for legal recourse.
Marondera farmer David Tippett yesterday filed an urgent
High Court application against government, as he resists a 90day ultimatum to
vacate his 337-hectare Remaining Extent of Magar Farm, which is within the 500
ha maximum farm size for that region. The farming enterprise is a multi-million
dollar exporter of essential oils, fine cut grass and tobacco.
He argues the farm grab will result in the termination of
international commercial contracts which generate much-needed foreign currency
and would lead to the loss of nearly 200 jobs. They have contracts with
companies in South Africa, the United Kingdom and some European Union
countries.
In his urgent application heard yesterday by Justice Owen
Tagu and argued by his lawyer Andrea Dracos of Honey and Blanckenberg legal
practitioners, Tippett said the decision by Agriculture minister Perrance Shiri
to withdraw his offer letter to make way for brothers Munyaradzi and Tendai
Hunzvi is ultra vires Section 23, as read with Section 17 of the Land
Commission Act.
The two brothers are the sons of the late Chenjerai Hunzvi,
former leader of the war veterans, a controversial and key figure in the 2000
invasions of white-owned farms.
Shiri, Tippett argues, violated the law by not consulting
the land Commission and President Emmerson Mnangagwa before making the
decision. Shiri, Munyaradzi and Tendai are cited as the first, second and third
respondents respectively.
Tippett, his brother Stuart John Tippett and their
agricultural company Essen Oils Company are the first, second and third
applicants respectively. Justice Tagu reserved judgement.
"The decision of the first respondent to withdraw the
offer letters is grossly irrational in that it ignores material recommendations
that were made by the land Commission to the effect that the first and second
applicants' offer letters must not be withdrawn and second and third
respondents be given land elsewhere," Tippett said in his court papers.
Tippet pointed out that the decision to withdraw the
letters is based on the ongoing land audit, which is meant to foster increased
agricultural production, yet the farm grab would effectively bring to an end
the farm's niche agricultural production.
Tippett said the 90-day ultimatum to vacate the farm is
"grossly unreasonable and substantially unfair" in that they are
still harvesting and cannot effectively commence winding up since they need
machinery in the harvesting process.
"The decision of the first respondent is grossly
unreasonable and substantively unfair in that it gives a ninety-day notice to
vacate the property in circumstances where the country is under an indefinite
national lockdown due to Covid-19 and further on in circumstances where it is
not legally permissible to move from one place to another," Tippett
argued.
"The decision of the first respondent to withdraw the
offer letter and give land to second and third respondents reflects a clear
disfavour of applicant's and consequently a favour to the respondents, who have
been desirous of taking occupation of the property as far back as 2008."
In his founding affidavit, Tippett revealed that Munyaradzi
and Tendai Hunzvi have been occupying a portion of the property, which includes
the farmhouse, through their agent Tedious Bhobho.
Tippett said they had offered 1 625 hectares to the
government in 2002 in pursuit of the land reform programme on the expectation
that they would, in return, stay put on the remaining land, which is Magar
Farm.
Tippett said he had
identified Perceyvale Farm in Macheke for purposes of affording the Hunzvis a
farm, but to no avail. Tippett said on June 26 they were approached by Shiri's
representatives, who handed them notices of withdrawal. They were then given an
offer letter for a farm, but without explanation or directions as to where the
offered property is situated.
In an interview with the Zimbabwe Independent, Tippett said
he had invested about uS$2 million, which he now stands to lose without
compensation.
"You can't take plantations away because they have
been there for 20 to 30 years and how am I supposed to remove them and put them
somewhere else? Since 2017, the Hunzvi boys have been out there maybe a dozen
times and they normally come out on a weekend," he said.
"I had pumped in about uS$2 million in infrastructure,
irrigation scheme, it's all immovable property, plus I had redone the house, I
spent more than uS$80 000 redoing the house, I had made it my home. What
happens to that? At least compensate me for the developments I have done. We
were contributing half a million united States dollars every year in export
earnings on the oil side and another half a million on the tobacco side."
Contacted for comment, lands minister Shiri said he would
have to go through the files before he can make an informed and factual
response on the processes. "I would need to look at the files to see the
conditions of those cases you mentioned. Then I can gladly respond and give you
the correct position," he said.
Munyaradzi Hunzvi, through his lawyer Walter Bverevende,
said he had not grabbed the farm but had an offer letter. "It is not
correct that the farm was grabbed. Munyaradzi has an offer letter from 2017. It
is just that the name on the offer letter was changed from his mother's to his
after she passed away on 14 December 2018."
"The Tippett brothers have been preventing him from
being productive on the farm that we had to get a court order to stop
that," he said.
Other farmers facing similar evictions told the Independent
they preferred not to divulge information on the situation on their farms, as
they did not want to disturb ongoing processes.
There are several other processes to evict white farmers
from their land around the Marondera and Macheke areas, with some farmers
receiving 48 hour-notices to vacate the farms.
Another affected farmer is Phil Frost of lot 1 of
Subdivision 7 of Winimbi Estates, an exporter of flowers. The 45-hectare farm
is in Marondera, with 15 hectares classified as arable land under
agro-ecological region two.
"There have been disturbances at the farm for a long
time now, and this time Edwin Samuriwo is the one claiming the land to be his.
I made a lot of investments and even contributed to the Kushinga Phikelela
Agriculture College. A partner put a centre pivot to train students on
commercial agriculture and infrastructure."
Another targeted property is Dave Palmer's Journey's End
Farm in Macheke. The 750-hectare farms is classified under agro-ecological
region three, with 150 hectares categorised as arable.
Tippett was ordered to vacate his family home where he grew
up in November 2017. The house is situated in front of a dam their source of
water which they stand to lose as it is now part of the Hunzvis' land. They
also stand to lose 60% of their agricultural produce which was farmed on the
land they are losing.
"The day I had to vacate my house, I was devastated.
It is one of those days when you think you are going to lose everything because
your whole life is your family, your belongings and your home," Tippett
said.
"It's a heart-wrenching feeling. We were given 48
hours. They have been doing that to a lot of farmers here. They give you very
little time to pack your bags. My wife was in tears and my kids also. you just
cannot describe the feeling of losing something that you have worked so hard for,
especially when you have been given the surety that it is not going to be taken
away from you with an offer letter. Offer letters, like a 99-year lease, are
supposed to give you security of tenure and it doesn't. It's heart
wrenching," he added. Zimbabwe Independent
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