On Friday afternoon, Chegutu farmer Ben Freeth and his family came
under siege by a group of roughly fifteen invaders, who arrived on
their Mount Carmel farm and announced that the family had five minutes
to leave the property. Freeth explained to SW Radio Africa that the
head invader eventually left the property to get more men to come help
him, leaving about nine men to keep an eye on the family. Freeth
explained that the head invader said he'd been sent my Nathan
Shamuyarira, the ZANU PF spokesman, who has been intent on removing
Freeth and his family off the farm. The family, who has previously been
forced to flee their property under constant harassment, was left on
Friday evening in a stand off with the remaining invaders.
Meanwhile it has emerged that Former Lands Minister Didymus Mutasa, and
two of his relatives, are involved in the ongoing farm disruptions.
The allegations surfaced in a damning report by the Commercial Farmers
Union (CFU) submitted to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last week,
which highlights the fresh wave of farm attacks that has forced many
farmers into hiding. More than 100 farmers are also facing prosecution
on trumped up charges of occupying state land' illegally, while
violent farm evictions have also intensified in recent weeks.
The CFU report accuses Mutasa of leading a Land Inspectorate
Commission, which has been interfering with farming activities on
targeted farms – the only productive farms left in a country crippled
by food shortages.
The report reads: What has become very evident from the reports coming
in is that there is a very active group, which we understand is called
the Land Inspectorate Commission, allegedly headed by the previous
Minister of Lands (etc), Minister (Didymus) Mutasa, and assisted by two
of his relatives, being the lawyer Gerald Mlotshwa and Temba Mliswa,
who we believe holds the position of Secretary of Lands for Mashonaland
West in the ZANU PF party.
The report also details the known involvement of Attorney General
Johannes Tomana as well as a chief magistrate, senior police officials
and officials from the Lands Ministry, who in February instructed local
police and magistrates to fast track' the prosecution of the remaining
farmers.
It would appear that this is to make way for the immediate occupation
by persons in favour of the ZANU PF party and many of these new
beneficiaries are alleged to have been involved in the recent political
violence, the CFU said in its report.
The CFU also urged the Prime Minister to issue a moratorium on the
prosecution of white farmers, and called for the immediate cessation
of the violence in the productive farming sector.
Tsvangirai has since promised to deal with the farm disruptions, saying
in a Press Conference on Wednesday that the Joint Monitoring and
Implementation Committee (JOMIC) had been tasked to deal with the
issue. The pledge came barely a week after he condemned perpetrators of
acts of theft using fraudulent offer letters to evict commercial
farmers. He warned that those engaged in these activities would be
brought to justice.
But doubt has been cast over how the Prime Minister plans to keep his
word, as it is not the first time he has condemned the attacks –
condemnation that has not seen any action. At the same time, many
police officials and judicial members, who should be handing out
justice over the land issue, are themselves beneficiaries of the land
grab, and will be unlikely to change allegiance at the request of
Tsvangirai.
SWRadio Africa
Post published in: News