Chegutu farm burned down by land invaders

Catherine Jouineau-Merediths Twyford Farm was burned to cinders on Tuesday by the ZANU PF senator who has led violent attacks on the property since last year. Senator Jamaya Muduvuri moved on to the property in March after successfully evicting Jouineau-Meredith, who was ordered to leave the farm and fined US$200 for occupying it illegally.

As a French citizen Jouineau-Meredith is meant to be protected by a bilateral investment protection agreement, signed between France and Zimbabwe. But this BIPPA, like others meant to protect foreign owned land in Zimbabwe, has been completely ignored. Jouineau-Meredith also has a High Court order from 2007 that recognised her rights to the farm. But again, the total disregard for the rule of law in Zimbabwe means the court order has offered no protection against illegal land invasions.

Senator Muduvuri has already looted the once productive farm of all its crops and equipment and Jouineau-Meredith wrote this week that the fire was the final end of Muduvuri gutting the property. She wrote; It has taken one year for my profitable farm to become a totally abandoned land where no crop has been planted and the home has been destroyed.

Muduvuri already owns Shiloh Farm near Kadoma, Mandalay and Brunswick farms near Chegutu, and Hoffmarie Farm in Kadoma, clearly demonstrating that the land grab has nothing to do with land reform. Twyford farm is now the fifth property that he has grabbed to add to his collection of unproductive pieces of land.

Twyford Farm was visited by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara last year when he went on a tour to verify widespread reports of renewed farm invasions. The deputy Prime Ministers delegation, which included the two Home Affairs Ministers Giles Mutsekwa and Kembo Mohadi; Herbert Murerwa, and the Minister of Lands and Land Resettlement, sternly warned Muduvuri to stop harassing Jouineau-Meredith or attempting to take over her farm.

The delegation, which also included the French deputy ambassador Stephane Toulet, also told Muduvuri to stop interfering with her farming activities, stop entering the farm or her house, using her farming equipment or selling her farm produce. Muduvuri assured the deputy Prime Minister that he would stop interfering with Jouineau-Merediths farming activities, but clearly his promises were as empty as the unity governments promise to protect farmers.

My continuous efforts towards the Prime Ministers office have been filled with empty promises and no action, Jouineau-Meredith wrote this week. What happened on my farm has NOTHING to do with any kind of land reform.

The incident happened the day before the two year anniversary of the signing of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) which included the promise of security for all land owners. The MDC, as partners in the coalition government, have come under pressure to use their position to make sure this happened, but nothing has changed.

The party itself commemorated the signing of the GPA with a statement, expressing concern and dissatisfaction with the deliberate delays by ZANU PF in fulfilling its commitments to the agreement. The party said that Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF have shown their dishonesty through the refusal to accept certain key aspects of the GPA. Our position remains unchanged. We demand the resolution of all outstanding issues.

This is the same statement the MDC has made repeatedly during its time in government, and patience is beginning to wear thin with the party for not doing or saying more. There have been no statements about ongoing land invasions in recent months or even about ongoing reports of violence marring the constitutional outreach process. Critics have argued that the MDC now needs to be much more public about their discontent and make it clear what plans they have for Zimbabwes political future.