New spate of arrests rocks farming community
By Alex Bell
31 May 2010
A new spate of arrests in the name of Robert Mugabe’s land ‘reform’ programme has rocked the country’s remaining commercial farming community, with at least four arrests since last Tuesday
Most recently, last Friday police went to James Taylor’s Cedor Park Farm in Nyamandlovu, and arrested him. His son Matthew was later also arrested when he went to Nyamandlovu police station to assist his father. Both were kept behind bars over the weekend and were only released on Monday, despite James being in a fragile medical condition due to a recent stroke and diabetes. According to Chris Jarrett, the Chairman of the Southern African Commercial Farmers Alliance (SAFCA), the Taylors have since been barred from entering their property this week.
Taylor gave up his Shirville Farm for resettlement several years ago, and in return was allowed to stay on at Cedor Park. Nevertheless the farm was invaded some months ago by a Mr. Chiguru who claimed he had an offer letter which ‘authorised’ him to occupy Shirville Farm next door – and Cedor Park. The Taylors immediately sought the intervention of the High Court, who ordered that Chiguru vacate the property. But on Sunday it was clear that Chiguru was being given some influential help, as police took Taylor’s son out of the cells, transported him to Cedor Park and ordered him to clear the house, for Chiguru.
“This whole situation makes a mockery of the legal system in Zimbabwe,” SACFA’s Jarrett said. “There is no logic to it at all.”
Meanwhile, last Tuesday six truckloads of armed police arrived at Goff and Shirley Carbutt’s Oscardale Farm in the Inyathi district of Matabeleland North. They surrounded the homestead and proceeded to arrest Goff for being in illegal occupation of ‘state land’. This is despite him also giving up a large portion of his property for ‘resettlement’ under the land reform programme. As in the Taylor case, the Carbutt’s had been allowed to remain on a portion of the property, which was deemed as not being ‘state land’. But regardless of legal papers allowing them to remain on the farm, the family was evicted from their home at gunpoint on Tuesday. Goff, who has recently had a kidney transplant, was taken to the police station in Inyathi where he had to sleep on the concrete floor of the police cells for two nights
The convoy of police then proceeded to the vacant home of Ed Grenfell-Dexter of Riverside and Riverbank farms. There they convinced his watchman to lure Dexter out from Bulawayo, where he now lives. When he arrived he was arrested and was also detained in Inyathi police cells for remaining on ‘state land’, despite not living on the property anymore.
The police then also went to Mike Huckle’s Felton farm and broke into the house where Huckle’s staff lives. They gathered all the staff together and told them they had one hour to vacate the farm.
Huckle is a South African resident and is meant to be protected by a recently ratified bilateral investment protection agreement. That agreement has proved fruitless, as a number of South African farmers in Zimbabwe have faced eviction and harassment in recent months.