RBZ Official Throws Out Farmworkers
Sandra Mandizvidza
2 May 2010
ABOUT 80 Chinhoyi families are stranded after they were evicted from
Friedwall Farm in Chinhoyi by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe deputy governor
Edward Mashiringwane last week.
Mashiringwane accused the farm workers of refusing to work for him at the
farm he forcibly took over from a white commercial farmer Louis Fick last
October.
More than 200 people mostly women and children were evicted by Zanu PF
youths who were chanting slogans denouncing Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
for allegedly trying to reverse the land reform programme.
The youth who were clad in Zanu PF regalia allegedly burnt some houses.
One of the evicted Rosewitter Phiri who relocated to Shackleton, a nearby
mining compound, said the farm occupants were chased away after being
accused of working for the white man.
“Fick was chased away first and some of his property was taken away, now
they are saying they do not want to see anyone remaining on the farm,” Phiri
said.
Another farm worker James Nicholas said when Fick was chased away, he warned
them to leave the farm but they had nowhere to go.
“Fick told us to leave the farm but we had nowhere to go and he had not
given us money.
“Our property spent three days in the open and it was raining. We then moved
here to Shackleton and some of us are still relocating,” he said.
Mashiringwane’s farm manager Shepherd Makoni last week accused the farm
workers of continuing to work for Fick but staying at Friedwall farmhouses.
“The farm workers have refused to work for Mashiringwane and we have just
told them to vacate the farm premises if they don’t want to work for us,”
Makoni said.
“These workers should just leave the premises and go and stay at their
employer’s new farm in Mazvikadei.
“Most of them have decided to employ themselves as fishmongers but we can’t
continue to give accommodation to people who do not want to work,” said
Makoni adding that the compound could only accommodate around 30 families.
Fick could not be reached for comment as he was said to be out of the
country.
MDC-T Shackleton councillor Ben Rabbi said he was appealing to ward
residents to accommodate the stranded workers.
He said he would forward the issue to the district administrator to see how
best these people could be assisted.
Additional reporting by our Chinhoyi correspondent