The evictions of the families are at the order of President Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace, who intends to set up a game reserve at the farm where the families were allocated land. Last year, about 700 families were affected after Grace ordered their evictions.
About 200 families are set to be affected by the latest evictions.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) Senior Public Interest Litigation officer, David Hofisi, confirmed the evictions which he said started mid-morning.
“We have our clients whom we secured an order for in August last year that they should not be evicted until they are allocated alternative land but the information that we are getting is that the are being evicted. We have since dispatched a team of lawyers to look into the issue,” said Hofisi.
In August last year the High Court directed the Minister of Home Affairs, Commissioner General of Police and the Minister of Lands and Rural resettlement to stop eviction of the families or demolishing their houses without a court order.
The High Court order said the respondents should not interfere with farming activities of families at the farm.
Hofisi said the demolitions were a serious infringement of the rights of ordinary citizens.
“I think this is really symptomatic of the rule of law challenges we have been raising all along. It’s open defiance of a court order and it is surprising how the police can go against a court order they are aware of,” said Hofisi.
He said they would launch contempt of court proceedings or alternatively seek a protection order from the courts.
Post published in: News