HARARE - War veterans who were used to invade a commercial farm in Dzivarasekwa Extension have been kicked off the land, and it has now been sold to a Chinese brick-moulding company called Tyger Bricks.
In separate interviews, several war veterans accused Zanu (PF) officials of being sellouts, bent on dispossessing indigenous Zimbabweans and using the so-called land reform programme to benefit themselves and foreigners. The farm, popularly known as kwaBob, was invaded by war veterans and ordinary community members from Dzivarasekwa Extension.
An irate war veteran, Tirivangani Pabodzi, vented his fury at having had his farming activities disrupted as a result of the farm having been sold to the Chinese. We dont eat bricks, we dont eat the horrible smoke that is coming from these Chinese ovens of bricks, he said, adding that the new owners had evicted everybody from the farm.
We have nowhere else to go. How are we going to farm in order to supplement our food supplies? This Chinese project is not benefitting the people at all, complained Pabodzi. Other community members who spoke to this reporter alleged that the new owners were very brutal when they ordered the people to vacate the land, claiming that they were protected by President Robert Mugabe.
When this reporter visited the farm in question, which is now Tyger Bricks, a makeshift police post, mounted by the ZRP, guarded the entrance. In a telephone interview, the director of Tyger Bricks, a Mr Tian, denied the claims of the war veterans. However, he did confirm that his company was not farming the land.
He said the property had been bought from the government, following all necessary procedures with the sole intention of starting a brick-moulding business. We bought the farm for the purpose of moulding bricks. We applied for the project that is what we are doing, he said.
Political observers said this was a classic case of land resettlement being nothing but a political football. All over the country since 2000, impoverished war veterans have been used as a battering ram to get rid of commercial, mainly white, farmers in order to punish them for supporting the MDC, said one observer. Where their presence no longer suits those in authority, or where they get in the way of more lucrative ventures, they are simply kicked off the land without a second thought for their welfare, he said.
Post published in: News