Mugabes nephew vows to reinvade Lake Chivero

The invasion was reported more than a week ago when a mob of about 150 people arrived at Kumba Shiri resort, where the renowned Larvon Bird Gardens are situated. The land invaders, wearing ZANU PF regalia, locked-down the resort by padlocking the main gates and prevented the residents from the 30 homes situated on the property from leaving. The mob also moved along Chivero lake, locking-down about 20 clubs and other tourist facilities, also preventing anyone from leaving.

The land invaders, claiming to be war vets, started taking an inventory of the assets at the recreational park, saying that under the controversial Indigenisation Act, more than 50% of the assets belonged to them. The group of invaders was led by Aaron Mazvi, the district chairman of the war vets in the Zvimba community, who has led other land invasions in the area over the past decade.

The situation returned to normal two days later, after the intervention of the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC). The government group finally persuaded the police to remove the land invaders. Government ministers have also issued public apologies for the incident, which was a source of major embarrassment for the state.

The invasion occurred while Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi was at a conference in Spain, trying to get international support for the local tourism sector. He branded Zimbabwe as the world of wonders, during a tourism convention, and has since said he was embarrassed by the Lake Chivero incident. Vice President Joice Mujuru last week also apologised to the owners of the facilities.

The public apologies however are in direct contrast to reports that top officials had in fact been told about the plans as far back as October last year. According to documents held by the Standard newspaper, the war vets who led the Lake Chivero invasion wrote to Lands Minister Herbert Murerwa, explaining the plans. In the letter signed by Mazvi, Murerwa was asked to facilitate a peaceful take over of the properties.

The letter, titled Occupation of Properties Situated along Lake Chivero, was copied to Mugabes nephew Zhuwao, National Parks, Mashonaland West Province governor Faber Chidarikire, local chiefs and other ZANU PF structures. In the letter, the Lake Chivero resort owners were accused of being racist, in an attempt to justify the illegal takeovers of the properties.

We intend to occupy properties along Lake Chivero which have become a hiding place for former Rhodesian war veterans who have maintained their racist tendencies in the area, said the letter. The properties constitute mostly chalets and boating clubs which are operated mostly by white former army and intelligencia (sic).

Zhuwao meanwhile echoed this belief during an interview with the Standard this weekend, saying he agreed that people in his constituency should tackle the racists and this time around we are going to research on the proper procedure and we are going to do it again.

Whilst the process and procedure may have needed to be improved, I still feel, together with the community, that there is gross social injustice that continues to be perpetrated by remnants of racists in most of the clubs, he said. He added: We will never allow any form of perceived white superiority in any part of this constituency.