Minister Mombeshora

Agriculture Reporter
Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement Dr Douglas Mombeshora, on Monday warned people who resettled themselves at Kimcott Farm in Beatrice to vacate the farm or risk prosecution. He said only Government was responsible for allocating land to people in Zimbabwe. An illegal settlement has mushroomed at the farm with some officials among them war veterans identified as Mr Gombiro and Mr Chisi allocating plots ranging from two to seven hectares to landless villagers.

“We are going to send a team to investigate and those selling plots will be prosecuted. It is a fraud to sell land that does not belong to you; the land belongs to the State.

“No one has authority to sell land to other people. Only Government has the responsibility of distributing land,” the minister said.
Government is battling with an increasing number of illegal settlers on farms countrywide and is evicting some of them to restore sanity in resettlement areas.

The Herald has established that most of the people staying at Kimcott Farm did not have offer letters and got the land through their local leadership.

According to one of the beneficiaries, people who came early got large plots of up to seven hectares, while those who came late had two hectares.
“You have to pay a fee to be registered.

“Land is for free and you do not need to pay a lot of money. It all depends on how you negotiate,” said a beneficiary.
Another beneficiary who came to the farm in 2012, said one could pay up to $250 since the remaining plots were small.

“The guys still have some open spaces where they can fit you, but I am afraid you will not be able to get a bigger area since most of the plots are now taken,” he said.

Mr Chisi said the plots were all occupied and could no longer take more aspiring land owners.
“I am sorry I cannot promise you land at the moment. The area is fully occupied. We have 250 settlers instead of 120. There should be 120 people and these are yet to get offer letters so where can I fit you?

“You should have come during the farming season maybe you could get a small portion where you could just produce bearing in mind that the land has an owner. I am afraid if I give you land, someone may come and claim the plot,” he said.

Most of the plots being subdivided belong to some A1 farmers who did not take up the land or who were not utilising it properly.
Most people are constructing houses in the area and some of the settlers said they did not have anywhere to stay.