Zanu PF elites in land dog fight: Part II
Written by Everson Mushava, Staff Writer
Friday, 27 April 2012 10:48
HARARE – But Mugwadi in November last year ordered the arrest of the
resettled farmers on criminal charges of trespassing after he obtained a
High Court default judgment by Justice Francis Bere evicting the A1 farmers
from the land.
The judgment came after Mugwadi had already used political power to muscle
the hapless A1 farmers out of their land, according to the farmers.
His victims say on two occasions Mugwadi bulldozed the homes of the A1
farmers using his tractor and efforts to seek justice by the hapless
settlers failed.
As the dispute escalated, Lands minister Hebert Murerwa withdrew Mugwadi’s
offer letter on November 15, 2010 giving reprieve to the farmers.
But Murerwa was forced to back down after Chombo wrote a letter to him
recommending that Mugwadi get the disputed piece of land because he had
“contributed immensely to the country after independence.”
The directive to dispossess the settlers was made disregarding the fact
that among the 10 farmers being forced out of Selby Farm is a veteran of
Zimbabwe’s 1970s liberation war currently serving as a policeman.
“…it would be unfortunate if not tragic if Mugwadi was to lose the land that
government deservedly allocated him merely because a small portion of the
same happened to fall under Mazowe District,” Chombo said in an August 3,
2011 letter to Murerwa.
“I am convinced there is nothing administratively neither amiss nor illegal
in having a property straddling across provincial and or district
boundaries. On the contrary, this scenario is prevailing in a number of
areas and there is no reason why Mugwadi should be an exemption” reads
Chombo’s letter pressuring Murerwa to act in favour of Mugwadi.
The Daily News has a copy of that letter.
So eager was Chombo for Mugwadi to get the farm at the expense of the
pioneering farmers that he offered to approach Mugabe to expedite the
adjustment of boundaries so that the piece of land wholly fell under Zvimba,
in Mashonaland West Province.
But Mugwadi’s second offer letter for the same land dated October 31, 2011
is silent on the fact that land straddles provincial boundaries and fails to
mention the number of hectares taken from each province.
An investigation by this paper discovered that Mugwadi’s offer letter could
have originated from elsewhere other than the provincial offices.
According to a ministry official, both chief land planners for Mashonaland
West Lovemore Vambe, and Mashonaland Central province’s Gerald Chirapa are
ignorant of Mugwadi’s new offer letter.
Asked to comment on his role in the saga, Chombo told the Daily News on
February 23 that he was not aware the 10 farmers hold offer letters for
Selby Farm.
“I wrote the letter to Murerwa basing on submissions he got from Mugwadi. I
am not aware that the 10 resettled farmers held valid offer letters from
Mazowe District Council,” said Chombo.
Chombo was not the only senior official fighting the hapless farmers.
Lester Muradzi, who is the chief national lands planner, was a star state
witness when Mugwadi forced the arrest of the farmers on trespassing
charges.
Sitting in the Land Dispute and Resolution Committee and the National Lands
Inspectorate, Muradzi wields enormous influence on land issues.
Efforts to contact Murerwa were fruitless as his secretary said the minister
was in South Africa for a medical review and would only be in office on
Monday, April 23. When the Daily News finally got hold of him, Murerwa
requested written questions.
Latest efforts to get a comment from the minister were fruitless as
officials in his office said he would be tied up with other business until
after the Trade Fair in Bulawayo.
Mugwadi dismissed the allegations as unfounded. In confirming the issue,
Mugwadi told the Daily News the 10 farmers were “fresh farm invaders.”
“I bought a piece of land adjacent to Shamwari farm in 1998 and applied for
more land which I was awarded in 2006. The group got offer letters in 2009 —
long after I had been awarded the land and had already cleared it,” said
Mugwadi on Tuesday last week.
He claimed to hold no political links, saying he was “simply a popular
person” due to the role he played when he was still the country’s top
immigration officer.
“I don’t have political links but people should know the whole land issue
was a political decision,” added Mugwadi.
Some assets left behind by evicted white farmers have also contributed to
the internecine black-on-black conflict.
At Galloway Farm in Mazowe District, a retired army officer and now Zanu PF
MP for Mazowe North, Cairo Philbert Mhandu is involved in a fight over fuel
storage tanks and a service station left behind by the former white farmer
with another black resettled farmer Fidelis Gweshe.
Muradzi, the chief lands planner is again at the centre of the storm.
In a letter to the principal director in President Mugabe’s office, Gweshe
accuses Muradzi’s office of doctoring the map of Galloway Farm in Mazowe to
benefit Mhandu.
Investigations show that the first approved map drawn after a meeting in the
boardroom at the Lands ministry offices in Harare on June 24, 2011 and
attended by Murerwa and Provincial Governor Martin Dinha, awarded the
service station and fuel tanks to Gweshe.
However, a map now at the offices of the Surveyor General in Harare
submitted by Muradzi on October 7, 2011 shows the fuel tanks are now on
Mhandu’s side of the farm.
Gweshe abandoned his job at Zesa Holdings to concentrate on farming when he
was awarded 109 hectares of land on October 11, 2003 but to date, he appears
to be the biggest loser.
He is losing portions of his land annually and now remains with less than 60
hectares.
Three weeks ago Muradzi refused to comment and referred the matter to his
superiors when asked why so many offer letters and different maps existed
for a single farm.
Visited at his offices for the second time a week later, Muradzi referred
the Daily News to Sophia Tsvakwi, the permanent secretary in the ministry of
lands.
Tsvakwi also refused to comment telling the Daily News through Muradzi to
follow procedure when
enquiring about land issues.
She did not explain what procedures she wanted followed other than just
lodging questions with her office.
According to court papers in our possession, Muradzi was last year involved
in a nasty fight with a female subordinate in the ministry over land with
the subordinate claiming her boss was trying to withdraw her offer letter
for a farm because she had turned down his sexual advances.
Muradzi was briefly detained by police for sexual assault allegations.
Magistrate Tayengwa Chibanda ruled out that while it could be true that
Muradzi could have sexually molested his subordinate, there was also a
possibility that he could be framed because the case now involved farms.
*Read the final part of this special report in tomorrow’s issue.