George Maponga in Masvingo
Government plans to engage Lowveld sugar producer Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe over the protracted wrangle with 220 newly resettled indigenous farmers over cane plantations straddling over 4 000 hectares at its Triangle and Hippo Valley Estates in Chiredzi. The dispute was sparked by the decision by the former Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement Dr Douglas Mombeshora to withdraw offer letters from model A2 indigenous cane farmers who had been allocated sugar cane plots at Hippo Valley and Triangle last year.

Dr Mombeshora tried to withdraw the offer letters on the grounds that cane plantations owned by Tongaat at Hippo Valley and Triangle estates were protected under the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) between Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Tongaat is a South-African-owned company. The indigenous farmers dragged Dr Mombeshora and Tongaat to court contesting the decision to withdraw offer letters and remove them from their cane plots. The courts ruled in favour of the indigenous farmers who have continued with operations at the disputed cane fields.

This has prompted the new administration under the leadership of President Mnangagwa to move in and resolve the dispute. Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Davis Marapira on Wednesday said his ministry wanted to bring finality to the dispute between Tongaat and the new farmers.

He said a delegation led by Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Minister Air Chief Marshal Perrance Shiri (Retired) will hammer a permanent settlement between the Lowveld sugar producer and new farmers. “I can authoritatively confirm that Government is seized with the issue of the dispute between Tongaat and new farmers over control of 4 000 hectares of cane plots that were taken from the former and allocated to the latter,” he said.

“My minister will be leading our delegation to the Lowveld in the very near future where we want to resolve the dispute between the feuding parties once and for all, we want to bring closure to the dispute between the parties.”

Deputy Minister Marapira said Air Chief Marshall Shiri (Rtd) and his team will hear submissions on the ground from the parties involved in the dispute before coming up with a determination.

He said Government would press for a solution that satisfies both parties to make sure operations run smoothly in the critical Lowveld sugar cane farming industry.

The new farmers were initially issued with offer letters by Government in 2012 on the understanding that Tongaat was going to develop 4 000 hectares of virgin land into cane plantations for the new farmers.

Tongaat only managed to develop slightly more than 200 hectares leaving scores of farmers with offer letters, but with no land.

The farmers were eventually allocated plots on cane plantations owned by Tongaat before Government tried to reverse the allocations citing the BIPPA agreement with South Africa.

Tongaat has already indicated its readiness to fulfil its pledge to develop alternative land for the new farmers on condition they are removed from the firm’s cane estates where the sugar producer claims to have invested in irrigation infrastructure running into millions of dollars.

The South African company has since indicated plans to retrench hundreds of workers who it says are now redundant after the takeover of its plantations by the new farmers.