Mohadi fights for farm

Despite being extremely wealthy and a Minister who is supposed to stand for law and order, co-Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi is reportedly involved in a legal battle to take over another farm in Beitbridge, with allegations the row has turned into physical assaults and threats from Mohadi and his family.

Reports said a war vet in the Beitbridge area, Given Mbedzi, alleges that Minister Mohadi and his family are trying to forcefully remove him from a farm that he legally owns in the Beitbridge area.

According to NewsDay newspaper, Mbedzi claims the property was allocated to him in 2003 and has produced an offer letter to prove it. But Mohadi has his own letter, signed six years later, naming his son Campbell as the rightful owner.

On Saturday Mohadi is alleged to have threatened Mbedzi and his mother with unspecified action if they did not leave. On the same day his son Campbell allegedly assaulted Mbedzi’s elderly mother and deflated the tyres on their rented vehicle.

Several members of Mbedzi’s family were later arrested for allegedly tampering with locks Mohadi had put on some structures at the farm. It is believed the arrest was facilitated by Mohadi and his wife Tambudzani, who is a Senator in Beitbridge. The case is currently in the courts.

This case highlights the additional problems created by Robert Mugabe’s land grab, which has not only destroyed the country’s food production but has created a problem for generations to come, as individuals fight over parcels of stolen land.

Most observers say there is a clear tendency among politicians in Zimbabwe to pursue personal wealth at the expense of any service to the people. Infighting is rife within political parties, including the MDC formations, over opportunities for financial gain.

Former journalist Thabo Kunene told SW Radio Africa that ZANU PF politicians have amassed great wealth in Zimbabwe. He named Vice President John Nkomo, Mines Minister Obert Mpofu and Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo as just a few of the examples.

Speaking on the Crisis Analysis programme, Kunene said these men were all very poor before independence and have used their position in politics to pursue financial gain, forgetting those who struggled with them during the liberation war.

Kunene pointed to the fact that MDC politicians have also been chasing personal wealth since they joined the coalition government. “Some of the MDC-T legislators have tasted power, have become corrupt and amassed a lot of wealth within a very short period of time,” Kunene explained.

SW Radio Africa’s Bulawayo correspondent, Lionel Saungweme, agreed. He quoted businessman Phillip Chiyangwa, who once said: “If you want to become rich join ZANU PF” and said some MDC legislators are displaying the same greedy behavior.

“There used to be a tribal setup where one tribe was accused of dominating the other. But now politicians, even here in Matabeleland, have become very rich because they belong to ZANU PF,” Saungweme said. He added that Mohadi was also implicated in cattle rustling and the theft of copper cables from a phone company.

Mohadi, as a co-Minister for Home Affairs, is expected to set an example as a law abiding citizen. But over the years he has drawn attention to himself for nothing more than corruption and abuse of the rule of the law. – SW Radio

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