CRUELTY TO ANIMALS BY ZIMBABWE POLICE CONTINUES AT NYAMANDHLOVU
S•A•C•F•A
Southern African Commercial Farmers Alliance
Police on Monday afternoon cut the power supply to Highfields Farm in Nyamandhlovu thus cutting off the water supply to Gary Godfrey’s 10 000 laying hens, 130 penned cattle and 260 sheep also penned. At least one of the cattle has already died.
In addition 35 settler homesteads are also without water and hundreds of cattle belonging to five settler villages which used to drink at a water trough supplied by the farm’s irrigation pumps are also without water. All Highfields Farm’s staff, some of whose families have been living and working on the farm since the early 1900s, have been told by the police to discontinue work immediately and are to summarily remove themselves from the property.
They have of course nowhere else to go nor have they access to food as they have not yet been paid. So no one was able to feed the livestock either.
Yesterday the SPCA was refused access to the livestock by the police guards. They were however allowed to remove the farm dogs from the homestead.
Today they are to make another attempt to have the livestock watered and fed, this time accompanied by the State Veterinarian Dr. Dube stationed at Nyamandhlovu. Dr. Dube’s office telephone number is +263 287 297 and his cell phone number is +263 712 969876.
We should appreciate it if concerned people could telephone and encourage him in his endeavours to ensure that the livestock is treated humanely.
Gary, being a South African citizen, has his investment covered by the recently signed and ratified “AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZIMBABWE FOR THE PROMOTION AND RECIPROCAL PROTECTION OF INVESTMENTS”.
Gary is right now endeavouring to telephone the South African Embassy in Harare to have them enforce a little bit of this “reciprocal protection”.
Without it the Treaty is quite worthless. To ensure that the power remains cut off Assistant Inspector Monyera, acting Officer in Charge of Nyamandhlovu Police Station has stationed two armed police at the homestead where the main switch board is situated.
These men, fearing the wrath of the waterless settlers who by now after three days are exceedingly annoyed, have taken the keys and padlocks from the staff and locked themselves inside the security fence.
Monyera’s cell phone number is +263 712 599676. His direct line to his office is +263 287 304 and that to the Nyamandhlovu charge office is +263 287 306. Monyera can only be acting in terms of instructions from Matabeleland Provincial Police Commissioner Edmore Veterayi stationed at Hwange Police Station whose telephone numbers are +263 81 32222 and 32431.
The farm truck and trailer were stopped from loading eggs on Monday. The police do not seem to understand that egg production in Zimbabwe, like everything else, is a fraction of what it used to be. The shortfall was being made up with imports from South Africa and Botswana but these have been stopped, so as allegedly to help prevent the spread of Rift Valley Fever.
This insane policy of destroying food production can only result in starvation. There is insufficient foreign currency in this country to import all the food needed to feed the entire population. Yesterday afternoon lawyers attempted to deliver an urgent spoliation application to the High Court in Bulawayo.
They failed as all of Zimbabwe’s civil servants had been given leave of absence to watch (of course providing their television sets happened to have an electricity supply) a friendly warm-up football match in Harare in which Zimbabwe was beaten 3 – 0 by Brazil. Another attempt will be made to deliver the papers this morning.
On Kennellys Farm nearby staff have only been confined to their quarters and a few are being allowed to look after the farm’s 3000 laying hens and an unknown number of cattle. They are not allowed to collect the eggs, nor water nor reap the tomatoes, onions, cabbages and potatoes; but they are allowed to mill maize for the chickens.
Two armed policemen have also been left to arrest the owner Nigel Fawcett (also a South African citizen who should be protected by the BIPPA) and his manager Russell McCormack should they return to the property.
Could it be that the difference in treatment between the two farms is that the owners of Highfields appealed to the SADC Tribunal and the owners of Kennellys did not?
Here the SPCA were allowed to retrieve the farm dogs but were not allowed to remove Russell’s two parrots, one of which has already died.
We understand that numerous settlers and war vets have gathered at the Nyamandhlovu Police Station today and are demanding an end to what they can now see is a dead end policy leading nowhere and impoverishing us all.
CM JARRETT – CHAIRMANSOUTHERN AFRICAN COMMERCIAL FARMERS ALLIANCE – ZIMBABWE3 June 2010