The accused,
who are allegedly working with an army colonel to invade part of the
424-hectare Elvington Farm, popularly known as KwaJokonya, were arrested two
weeks ago and charged with criminal trespassing.
The farm has
title deeds and was purchased by the late Jokonya in 1992.
The accused are
Cephas Ndiripo (47), Newton Mafoti (46), Honest Tarugarira (30), Ashley
Chimbare (22), Dean Nyagona (26), Naison Mbara (23), Panashe Weju (23) and
Aaron Mushamu (30).
The courts also
ordered law enforcement officers to verify the accused’s residence addresses
and an offer letter which they were claim was issued by the Lands ministry.
According to
court papers, on June 6, police were notified of the farm invasion, but the
suspects fled from the scene after police arrived.
On June 25, the
accused returned to the farm and continued to erect a barbed wire fence before
the farm manager notified the police of their presence.
The eight men
were arrested before telling the police that they were contracted to erect the
barbed wire fence by one Shadrack Chimbare, who stays in Chivhu.
Chimbare is
reportedly working under instructions of army colonel, Kennedy Makavange,
according to the Jokonya family.
Jokonya died in
his hotel room in Harare and was declared a national hero.
He was
Zimbabwe’s ambassador to the United Nations before the then President Robert
Mugabe appointed him Information minister in 2005 upon his return from the
diplomatic mission.
He was buried
at the National Heroes Acre in Harare. Newsday
0 comments:
Post a Comment