LLOYD MBIBA  •  2 DECEMBER 2013 8:58AM  •  0 COMMENTS

HARARE – Government has gazetted Caledonia Farm, located just outside Harare, for compulsory acquisition to accommodate the expanding capital city.

Caledonia Farm, popularly known as kwaBhobho, is located about 30km south-east of Harare, near one of the oldest suburbs, Tafara and has been embroiled in endless wrangles.

The farm, a sprawling area stretching for more than five kilometres from the fringes of Tafara, is largely made up of substandard houses and small tents donated by the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) at the height of Operation Murambatsvina in 2005.

The government has given a notice that it intends to acquire the farm compulsorily.

This comes as government is mulling razing down illegal structures in the capital.

The latest government gazette carries an extraordinary notice inserted by Douglas Mombeshora, minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement, notifying that President Robert Mugabe intends to seize the farm.

The notice reads: “Notice is hereby given in terms of section 5(1) of the Land Acquisition Act (Chapter 20:10), that the president intends to acquire compulsory the land described in the schedule for urban development. Deeds transfer of registered in the name of Caledonia Enterprises Limited, in respect of certain land situate in the district of Salisbury, being lot 1 of Caledonia.”