White commercial farmer faces eviction
Written by Pindai Dube
Sunday, 22 July 2012 09:52
BULAWAYO – One of the few remaining white commercial farmers Dudley Rodgers
of West Nicholson in Matabeleland South faces eviction from his farm after
allowing an MDC rally to be held adjacent to his Olympus farm.
Speaking to the Daily News on Sunday last week, mainstream MDC Matabeleland
South provincial chairperson Watchy Sibanda said two former police officers
wanted to take over Rodgers’ farm.
“We had our provincial rally about a month ago at an open space adjacent to
Rodgers’ Olympus farm and since then all has not been well there. Two former
police officers Muhoni and Gono have already visited the farm several times
claiming they are new owners. They also claim to have offer letters from the
ministry of Lands but we wonder if those letters are genuine,” said Sibanda.
“We know Zanu PF is behind all this because they have been accusing Rodgers
of sponsoring our party,” said Sibanda.
Sibanda also said the case has already been reported to coalition government
watchdog organ, the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (Jomic).
Zanu PF functionaries recently embarked on a series of farm invasions that
could further decimate the number of white farmers in the country.
This is despite the three-year-old fragile coalition government agreeing to
stop fresh farm invasions.
There are now less than 300 white farmers out of 4 500 before President
Robert Mugabe started his often violent land reform programme.
Critics blame Zimbabwe’s recurrent food deficits on the land reforms, which
began in 2000 when hordes of war veterans, Zanu PF supporters and security
agents violently grabbed white owned firms.
Mugabe says the invasions were necessary to redress colonial land imbalances
that saw a few thousands whites owning vast tracts of rich land while
millions of landless blacks were crammed on unproductive land.
But the few whites remaining on farmers are still exposed to intimidation,
invasions, violence and at times murder.