LOCAL Government minister Ignatius Chombo and Information minister Webster Shamu (pictured) are leasing out their farms to former white commercial farmers, Mashonaland West secretary for lands and resettlement Temba Mliswa has alleged.
Mliswa also said Chombo and Shamu were multiple-farm owners.
The lands secretary promised to expose all multiple-farm owners in the province and also those subletting their pieces of land to whites in a report he will present soon to the party leadership.
“There appears to be a cartel of our supposed members who are in favour of and have been supporting the white farmers. In my findings I have found that most of those that are involved in this cartel are legislators in their areas and they should be strongly reprimanded,” reads Mliswa’s letter.
“The audit which has been suggested in the land reform exposes the leadership,” he said.
Mliswa said it was unfortunate that those in the higher echelons of the party were flouting its resolutions agreed upon at congress last December, which said offer letters, leases and certificates of occupation should indicate both names of spouses.
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The congress also resolved that sub-letting would not be tolerated and that the party should enforce its policy of one person, one-farm.
He said the report he would present would detail the names of those with multiple farms and the names under which those farms were registered.
Mliswa, who was reinstated in the proavincial party structures together with the provincial chairperson John Mafa and his deputy Frank Ndambakuwa on Wednesday, said he had been suspended because of the report which will expose multiple-farm owners in Zanu PF and together with their close family members who are leasing out farms.
He said his suspension was an attempt to silence him and suppress what he described as a damning report.
Mliswa alleged that Chombo and Shamu were engaging former white farmers from Chegutu and Zvimba who were instrumental in the damning judgment from the Sadc Tribunal which ruled that Harare should halt its land reform programme.
Mliswa told the politburo that his family had been threatened through telephone calls and he had had suspicious cars unregistered driving past his house.
Land and Rural Resettlement Minister Herbert Murerwa has warned resettled farmers subletting farms to former white commercial farmers that they risked losing their land.
When contacted for comment, Chombo said whatever Mliswa was alleging was nothing new as he had over the years been accused of having as many as 15 farms.
Chombo said Mliswa should bring these issues to the party leadership with evidence that he owned those alleged farms.
“There is nothing new about what he is saying. He must prove what he is saying because I have been accused of having as many as 15 farms,” said Chombo.
Shamu yesterday refused to comment.
Meanwhile, Mafa, Mliswa and Ndambakuwa were reinstated on Wednesday at a meeting attended by the acting national political commissar Richard Ndlovu and two other politburo members Oppah Muchunguri and Absolom Sikhosana.
Faith Zaba
