Mr Muduvuri was quoted in the Herald recently and said that he had crops on my farm… That is not true and all he has done since February is to gut my farm of all its vital organs ie: all my oranges, all my sweet potatoes, my maize (planted for my workers), my seedmaize, my sorghum, all my bricks from the 2 brick kilns I had paid for on the farm, all my tools, my deepfreezes etc…His men have also beaten up my workers (one of them got his leg broken), he has chased 30 workers off the farm who have nowhere to live, he is not paying the workers left on the farm, he has slaughtered my ram and at least 25 sheep, he is not paying any bill for the farm, he is using my farming equipment incl all my tractors, he has used all the diesel I had stored on the farm… The list goes on.
Mr Muduvuri is NOT farming, he is only reaping the benefit of MY and MY workers’ hard work. I am left paying my workers and displaced alongside some of my workers (as he has placed 5 men on my veranda and has changed all the locks on my gates) while he gets all the income from my produces.
The police in Chegutu has not been of any help at all in many of the instances of violence and theft on the farm.
I have never been against the principles of the Zimbabwean Land Reform but what is taking place on my farm has nothing to do with any kind of Land Reform. Mr Muduvuri has at least 2 other farms (his own workers have confirmed the fact) and I have one only. What happened to the famous declaration of “One Man, One farm”?
I would therefore like to have the chance to set the story straight in this matter of Twyford Farm, French BIPPA farm in Chegutu which is ALSO protected by a Provisional and Final Order from the High Court of Zimbabwe stating that being a BIPPA farm, it should not be touched by the Land Reform Program.
I thank you in advance and stay at your disposal should you need any further detail.
Best regards,
Catherine Jouineau-Meredith