New twist to Mudenge-war vets land wrangle
http://www.thedailynewszw.com/?p=29193
May 3, 2010
By Owen Chikari
MASVINGO – Fifty people, most of them war veterans who recently invaded
Chikore Farm, yesterday appeared in court charged with illegally settling on
a gazetted piece of land in a dramatic twist of events to the farm ownership
wrangle between Higher and Tertiary Education Minister Stan Mudenge and the
former freedom fighters.
The 50 were not asked to plead to the charge when they appeared before
Masvingo magistrate Timeon Makunde.
They were remanded out of custody on free bail to May 27, the date on which
the state said it will proceed with the trial.
Mudenge, a Zanu-PF politburo member, who claims ownership of Chikore Farm,
did not appear in court yesterday.
However, Tongai Matutu of Matutu, Kwirira and Associates, who was
representing the accused persons challenged the court to also bring Mudenge
to trial since he was not the legal owner of the land.
“From the record it is clear that Mudenge is not the legal owner of this
piece of land, therefore, he should come to court to face similar charges”,
said Matutu.
“There is no evidence to suggest that Mudenge is the legal owner of the farm
which means he also illegally settled on a gazetted piece of land” he said.
“We do not want selective application of the law”.
Officials from the Ministry of Lands were yesterday battling to come up with
evidence to show that Mudenge is the legal owner of the farm after the
Attorney General’s office demanded proof of Mudenge’s ownership to the
property.
The state alleges that the farm occupiers illegally settled on the gazetted
piece of land without authority between August 2006 and December 2010.
The civil case in which the invaders were challenging Mudenge’s occupation
of the farm has been put on hold pending the outcome of the criminal case
Mudenge has been for the past 10 years trying to evict the former freedom
fighters from the property without success.
During the height of farm invasions Mudenge ganged up with the war veterans
to evict Robert Buchan the former commercial farmer.
A few days after successfully evicting Buchan Mudenge changed his mind and
sought to evict from the farm his former comrades-in-arms, the war veterans.
Robson Kandukutu a spokesman for the farm occupiers yesterday said they were
being harassed by both the police and members of the dreaded Central
Intelligence Organisation CIO.
“The past ten years have been very tough since we were being harassed by the
police and members of the CIO who accused us of invading the minister’s
farm. It appears the minister is paying kick backs to the state security
agents to intimidate and harass us every day”.
Chikore Farm traditionally produced vegetables, tomatoes, maize and wheat
among other crops. In addition the farm also produced flowers for export.
The flowers were being produced under the green house effect principle.
However a visit to the farm yesterday revealed that the shades in which the
flowers were produced have been extensively vandalised. Mudenge does not
reside on the farm.
A few hectares have been put under sweet potatoes and maize while the vast
piece of land adjacent to the farm house has been derelict for years.
Last month the minister hired Zanu-PF youths to evict the former freedom
fighters from the property but to no avail.