Tsvangirais niece implicated in farm invasion

Chihombori hit the news on May 9 when she accompanied Tsvangirai to the inauguration of the South African president, Jacob Zuma. Two weeks later, she went to the farm to view her new property, revealed Cremer, who lives at De Rus farm with his wife, two daughters and five grandchildren.
Cremer said that in November 2008, the lands officer told them that part of the farm had been offered to Chihombori in an offer letter dated August 2007. In January of this year, Chihomboris sister sent some youths to occupy the farm, but they left after three days, complaining, says Cremer, of not being paid enough. Last month, the messenger of the court delivered an application made by Chihombori to the magistrates court to have the family evicted from the property.
The farm was purchased by my grandfather in 1928. I started paying off my father in 1977. My grandparents and my wifes parents are buried in our garden, explained Cremer. I was born on this farm, purchased it and invested my life savings into the infrastructure on the farm. This makes me a Zimbabwean, entitled to land. My wife is a third generation Zimbabwean.
As a result of land reform, 650 hectares were allocated to settlers in 2002, and the Cremers were left with 60 hectares.
We have managed to co-exist with the new farmers and have a cordial relationship with them, said Cremer.
We farmed extensively up to 2001, when the farm was acquired by the State. Up to date, we have not received any compensation. We produced food and cotton on 400 hectares every year. Cattle were farmed on the rest of the property. Since then, the production from the acquired section has been minimal, with at most 20 hectares under crops each year, employing about 20 people on a part-time basis. On lands that had produced a crop every year for the past 50 years, there are now thorn trees five meters tall.
In 2003, the family was granted Export Processing Zone status, later to become an Investment Licence. According to their lawyer, this licence meant that the farm could not have been legally acquired by the state.
We are in possession of letters from land committees and the governor of the province recommending that we must be allowed to continue farming, said Cremer. Of significance is the ruling from the SADC tribunal that the legislation under which the current farm invasions are legalised is in breach of the SADC treaty, to which Zimbabwe is a signatory, and that it is discriminatory on the grounds of race.
In our case, this is relevant, as we are Zimbabweans who purchased and developed the farm, lost 90 per cent of the farm, living in peaceful co-existence with our new neighbours, producing food for the country as well as earning valuable foreign exchange. We have no other home, income or vocation. The only reason for evicting us must be race.
Cremer says Chihombori did not wait for the law to take its course, but chose to make a civil case against the family in her personal capacity.
Here, we have a small productive farm being taken from Zimbabweans and given to someone who resides in America. It is about greed, people stealing our homes, land, jobs and livelihood and hiding behind politics, he said.
How can this government ask for food aid while they are busy removing food producers from their farms? How can they justify the unemployment rate while they are removing 300 people from employment?
With all due respect, an American citizen has taken advantage of a law passed by an illegitimate government to violate our human rights. This law, which has been ruled by the SADC tribunal as flawed, allows her to take, without compensation, our homes, our entire livelihood and our human dignity.