CHEGUTU - Yet another Zimbabwean icon has succumbed to land reform. Dodhill Farm, a name synonymous for decades with fruit saplings, plants and seedlings, has quietly disappeared from the spluttering Zimbabwe farming sector. For the owners, Simon and Sarah-Jane Keevil and their three young children, the end was anything but quiet.As with all offer-letter holders Abel Kunonga and Nyasha Chikafu insisted Dodhill was their farm and the Keevils were invading their property. The workers and locals in the nearby vicinity spontaneously rose up in support of the Keevils against the claimants, but to no avail. The previously down-sized nursery, tobacco and citrus farm, highly productive under the Keevils, is now in the hands of the brother of the Chegutu Lands Officer. Clever Kunonga himself faces numerous contempt of court charges regarding his attempt to take over Reydon farm in his personal capacity in the Chegutu area.
Simon Keevil removed his tobacco. which was in the grading process. but left pumps and over 5km of dripline for an orange crop soon due to ripen. It didnt take long for the desperate message on his cellphone to appear: We must meet so you can tell me how to work the farm. The story is familiar, frustrating and heart-breaking, but rather than abating has only escalated in the last four months. A highly publicised task force team led by Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara only resulted that same day in crackdowns and intensified harassments of the farmers and their workers.
Another less publicised delegation to the same area organised by Zanu (PF) stalwart Minister Murerwa led to a new wave of offer letters for miniscule plots on the few remaining unallocated sections of white-owned farms they visited that day. Practically every white farmer in the Chegutu area is either facing prosecution for continued farming operations or is currently dealing with government sanctioned invasions and harassment. This situation is widespread throughout the rest of Zimbabwe.
Put into perspective, while ministers on both sides of the new unity government are bleating about kick-starting the collapsed economy and wandering about with cupped hands to any country who seems a likely candidate, Zimbabweans with a right mindset but wrong colour are systematically being annihilated along with all those dependant on their industry. Of necessity, in a highly antagonistic environment, besieged farmers have moved from large-scale row-cropping to intensive, consolidated projects, which are mostly labour intensive.
In Chegutu alone Dodhill Farm (Keevil) tobacco, oranges and horticulture during grading and packing seasons count over 130 employees, claimed by Nyasha Chikafu; Stockdale Farm (Etheredge) oranges, 300 employees, claimed by Edna Mudzongwe; Mount Carmel (Campbell) mangoes, export linens and field crops, 200 employees, claimed by Nathan Shamuyarira; De Rus Farm (Cremer) export flowers and local market produce, 300 employees year round, claimed by Arikana Chihombori; Wakefield Farm (Bartholomew) tobacco, oranges and mangoes, 400 employees.
On only these five farms, not to mention the other besieged farms in Zimbabwe, well over 1,300 people receive a regular income and food package benefits, and are able to support and educate a large number of dependants.
On only these five farms. More than 5,000 Zimbabweans will suffer the knock-on effects of their evictions. Many of these workers are urban-dwellers and the economic effects of their income is palpable and its potential loss devastating. The worlds purse strings are being tugged ostensibly to alleviate the dire situation of ordinary Zimbabweans in a country citing over 90 per cent unemployment, while just last week another 130 Zimbabweans have been added to these statistics.
While the world and Africa dithers and talks, is it any wonder that on four of these five farms the farm-workers themselves have assumed the most aggressive stance against the claimants and their paid muscle-men? They face the harsh reality of unemployment and will live with the indignity of handouts known as aid. Whilst these people are crying no more!, no-one who matters is listening.