Although the rains that started falling in Matabeleland
this past week have been hugely welcomed, about 80 families living at Badminton
Farm in Nyamandlovu were left cursing their luck, and the sheriff, after
watching two truckloads of police in riot gear burn down their homes.
‘’They do this every year, it’s difficult for people to be
building homes every year. “I think for the last five years they have been
burning our homesteads, every year.“Around this time, in the rainy season, they
must burn.
“This makes people spend farming time building homes. And
not get time to farm. “In other words, they are part of the reason why we have
food shortages.
“There is no year that goes by without them burning our
homesteads,” Isaac Dakamela, the chairperson of the Badminton Villagers
Association, said.
The association represents about 500 families who started
moving into the farm located in Umguza District, Matabeleland North, in 2011.
The villagers, who come from different parts of the country
and are mostly Zanu PF supporters, maintain they were legally allocated the
land by Chief Deli Mabhena.
In 2016, through the High Court in Bulawayo, Badminton
Block Company, represented by Luke Siziba, obtained a default order in its
eviction case against the villagers, who have been defiant but have had to deal
with their homes being demolished every year on the basis of that order.
The villagers contend that they were never served any court
summons back then and they were not served any notice of eviction for this
round of demolitions.
The villagers believe their case against Siziba has now
been further strengthened after their lawyers from Mutatu, Masamvu and Da
Silva-Gustavo in 2019 discovered that the disputed farm was in fact gazetted
under the A1 scheme in 2001.
Bruce Masamvu, a spokesperson for the lawyers, said they
were preparing an urgent court application against the latest demolitions, in
addition to the pending applications.
Sihle Hadebe, whose home was burnt again in 2013 and 2015,
said she was surprised that this had happened despite being in possession of a
letter from Chief Deli giving ownership of the land.
“Where will I sleep when it’s raining like this? The
agriculture extension workers were here to teach us about farming methods,”
said Hadebe.
“How will I do the planting this season when I am living in
the open? “What will I eat? They expect us to continue begging the government
for food when we can grow our crops.”
This latest episode in the Badmintown Farm ownership
wrangle brings yet again into the spotlight role of the institution of
traditional leadership and the conflict inherent between chiefs and other
institutions of the state. Standard
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