60 families thrown into the open
Judith Guzha prepares a meal in the open after being evicted from the farm. Pic Angela Jimu
JAIROS SAUNYAMA –
More than 60 families are living in the open at Banana Groove Farm in Goromonzi South, Mashonaland East, after they were thrown off the property by former Dynamos Football Club chairperson, Simon Makaza, in a bitter land ownership wrangle.
The families were evicted from the farm by a Marondera messenger of court last Friday and have since then been living by the roadside, with others staying in a tobacco barn at Rushbrock Farm.
Spokesperson of the evicted families, Ignatius Abraham, told The Zimbabwe Mail that most of the people affected were former employees at the farm under a Williamson, before Makaza took over the farm in 2005 under the land reform programme.
Makaza, Abraham claimed, lived side-by-side with the former workers until 2010 when the land ownership wrangle erupted, with the ex-Dynamos boss approaching a Goromonzi
court seeking the eviction of the ex-workers.
Makaza reportedly lost the case, but in May this year approached the same court, which ruled in his favour and the former farm workers were given 30 days to vacate the land.
Instead, the ex-workers lodged an appeal with the High Court on July 15, which is still pending.
“We were surprised to see a messenger of court coming to us on Friday,” said Abraham.
“We showed him our High Court appeal. He went away, but later returned and drove us out of the farm. We are stranded here and we have nowhere to go. More than 60 families have been affected.”
Makaza last night confirmed the eviction, but said only 16 families were affected.
“The issue is that these former workers were left with me at the farm when I took over, but the problem is that some of them had become warlords or ring leaders,” he claimed.
“By this, I mean they were inviting other people from outside the farm to come, stay and build structures without my knowledge. For example, if one of the former workers had a relative staying in Harare and it happens that he loses a job, they would allocate land on the farm to the relative.”
Makaza added: “Moreover, some are even burying their relatives on the farm who would have died from far away places as Kadoma. I lost about 30hectares in the process and as a result I decided to drive out 16 families from the farm.
“I even called in the ministry of Lands to solve the issue but to no avail and so had to approach the courts.”
He said some of the workers were only staying at his farm while working in other farms. The families on Tuesday appealed to stay on the land as they had nowhere else to go.
“I do not know where to go from here, for now I will be living in the cold like this. Can you imagine that every morning the blankets will be wet as a result of dew.
“I had to ask a certain woman to take care of my children and give them shelter, but I cannot do that every day for I will be burdening her,” said 57-year-old Lingson Chikwata.