Top army official chucked out of estate

TOP army official, Darlington Muleya, was last week kicked out of a Beitbridge citrus estate he had refused to vacate for over a year.

BY OWN CORRESPONDENT

Muleya and Nkululeko Nyathi had refused to vacate River Ranch Lot 2 of Benfer Estates, claiming they had obtained government offer letters for the property.

The farm is owned by Ian Ferguson, whose lawyer, Winston Tshakalisa, confirmed that the army official had been evicted.

“Muleya’s workers did not resist, but the messenger of court had problems with Nyathi’s people,” Tshakalisa said.

Both Muleya and Nyathi were absent during the evictions.

In April, Ferguson was given 24 hours to leave his farm by Muleya with the support of Lands ministry officials in Beitbridge.

After that failed, the illegal settlers had the cheek to seek court action to evict Ferguson –an application thrown out by Beitbridge magistrate, Godswill Mavenge late last year.

“They (Muleya and Nyathi) made the application to court to have Ferguson removed, but their offer letters had been withdrawn,” he said.

During the eviction some fences erected by the illegal farmers were pulled down.