CHEGUTU - Catherine Jouineau-Meredith, evicted from her Twyford Farm in Chegutu, was recently stopped by thugs hired by Zanu (PF) official, Jimayi Muduvuri, from collecting her property from the farm, in violation of a court order, it has emerged. In addition she has lost her entire 2009 harvest of citrus, seed sorghum, seed maize, sweet potatoes, maize, vegetables, all which were meant for local consumption as she did not export. She also lost 220 sheep and 27 cattle. All this, she said, was worth no less than US$ 200 000.
The home and equipment have an estimated combined value of about US$800 000 while loss of future earnings were estimated to be in the region of US$ 200 000. Jouineau-Meredith, who is now suing, Muduvuri, for illegally and forcibly taking over the farm, told The Zimbabwean that her workers were beaten and she was threatened with violence if she and her husband went to their besieged farm to collect their property.
“My husband was under a huge amount of stress and threats from Muduvuri’s henchmen (30 of them) and wasn’t allowed to take a lot of movable properties such as lawnmower, tools, lights and other things. Muduvuri forbade us to come onto the farm yard to collect our farming equipment which he has been using shamelessly since the February last year. Jouineau-Meredith was ordered by a Chegutu magistrate to remove all her goods from the farm by March 26 to make way for Muduvuri.
However, Jouineau Meredith, contested the order preventing the seizure of Twyford Farm as it is protected by a Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) between Zimbabwe and France. This means the family did not have to move their belongings before March 26. We only did it because the French Embassy and my lawyer, David Drury of Gollop and Blank, advised us to do so for fear of abuse. Muduvuri doesn’t have the right to be in my house. He is in actual fact in contempt of court.”
Jouineau-Meredith said her life at Twyford, which she bought in 2000, has been hell since 2006 when a senior government official attempted to take over the farm. “Threats, beatings, attacks and thefts have been numerous. I have reported as many cases to Chegutu ZRP as possible but only managed to get the police to stamp my claims and statements on very rare occasions.
She said Muduvuri had chased 20 workers from the farm since 2009 and has stopped paying the rest of the workers on the farm. Several people have tried to take the farm, which was first gazetted for compulsory acquisition in November 2004.
Post published in: News