We have fought a nearly-ten year battle in the High Court of Zimbabwe for payment for the moveable assets which we were forced to leave behind (with only an hour to leave). Those assets included all of our breeding cattle, game, our tractors, vehicles, equipment, irrigation equipment, stocks of fertiliser and diesel, coal and so on. It was independently valued by Zimbabwe's top valuers at US$1.7m in 2001. All the documentation is, of course, available and forms the basis of our civil suit against General Mujuru.
The land itself is an entirely different issue and forms part of a wider action on the part of 4000 dispossessed farmers, against the government. This has also been valued along with 90% of the dispossessed farms, and is being pursued through the Commercial Farmers Union in Harare, and Agric Africa who are UK-based.
If Solomon Mujuru's death on my farm brings anything at all, I hope it is a renewed awareness that there are huge injustices that need addressing before Zimbabwe can feed itself again, and recover from the last 10 years of mayhem. The rule of law and property rights are at the heart of any future recovery in our country, and mine is just one of so many productive farms which have been similarly taken out of the economic life of the country. With law and order and the return of property rights the turnaround for the average Zimbabwean could be so quick – everything is still there and basically waiting for conditions to change, with loyal productive Zimbabweans forced to sit on their hands waiting for the opportunity to go back to work.
On another level – one has to wonder whether the truth about Mujuru's death will ever come out. Our house was a sprawling single storey building, roofed entirely with asbestos sheeting (which was common in the 50's when it was built). Of course that makes it absolutely fire-proof, and the walls were brick and cement. All that could have burned was roofing timbers and ceilings, and to imagine the fire spreading quickly without help is difficult. Finally, there were more doors and windows than holes in a colander. Our main bedroom alone had three doors out of it and four double windows. How do you get trapped inside that?
The 62-year-old General was the husband to Vice President Joice Mujuru. He began his military career in the 1960s when he joined Zimbabwe African’s Revolutionary Army led by the late Joshua Nkomo before joining President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army as operations commander, second in rank to the late Josiah Tongogara.
Popularly known as Rex Nhongo during the 1970s war of independence that ended white minority rule, Mujuru played a crucial role in the rise of Mugabe to the apex of Zanu (PF) and became Zimbabwe’s first army general after independence where he remained Mugabe’s pillar of support.
Post published in: News