Judge refuses to list farms
HENDRICKS CHIZHANJE | 19 February, 2012 00:58
A Zimbabwean judge has rejected a request by exiled Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) treasurer Roy Bennett to disclose the number of farms he owns
in court.
Bennett’s lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, had asked high court judge Chinembiri
Bhunu to disclose all the farms that he had laid claim to over the past 10
years when President Robert Mugabe’s previous administration began its
violent land seizures.
The request was made to enable Bennett to plead to the judge’s $1-million
defamation suit against the former Chimanimani legislator.
Mtetwa asked Bhunu to reveal the name and location of the current farms that
he occupies, the duration of occupation of each farm, and whether previous
farm owners who were dispossessed of their farms were fully compensated.
Bhunu is claiming $1-million from Bennett for alleged defamation arising
from an interview with the Guardian newspaper (United Kingdom) before his
acquittal on insurgency charges.
Bhunu, who presided over Bennett’s trial, says Bennett told Guardian
reporter, David Smith, that he would not get a fair trial because Bhunu was
given a farm by the Zanu-PF administration and would therefore be biased in
favour of the state.
But in response to Mtetwa’s request for an inventory of his farms, Bhunu,
through his lawyers Chikumbirike and Associates Legal Practitioners, refused
to respond to the request and insisted that the onus is on the former
commercial farmer to prove his claims.
“The defendant (Bennett) professes knowledge of the information requested.
The information requested is therefore not necessary to enable the defendant
to plead,” reads the response to Bennett’s request for further particulars.
In December 2010, the Sunday Times revealed that Bhunu was involved in a
farm ownership dispute with a University of Zimbabwe lecturer, Professor
Lovemore Gwanzura, in a saga that exposed the often-chaotic manner in which
the country’s land grab exercise was implemented.
Court papers showed that both Bhunu and Gwanzura claimed ownership of
Dasktop Subdivision 4 farm in Mashonaland East province.
The court documents also suggested that Bhunu had the pick of a number of
alternative properties before finally settling for Dasktop farm.
Bennett, whose farm was seized, is now living in exile after giving up on
his deputy ministerial post.
Although he was acquitted of the terrorism charges, state prosecutors have
appealed against the verdict to the supreme court.