GUTU MPANDAWANA — Twenty-two Chomfuli Farm settlers and their families who were evicted by soldiers from a farm they had occupied at the height of the land reform programme in 2002 are sleeping rough in makeshift shelters because they have nowhere else to go.The eviction was on government orders issued by Provincial Affairs minister Shuvai Mahofa.
By Tatenda Chitagu
A few have been able to secure temporary accommodation with friends or relatives at nearby farms, but most families have been pushed into an overcrowded piece of public land, sandwiched between their former homes and the main road.
They have not been given alternative land by government, neither did they get compensation for their structures that have been demolished.
The once thriving horticulture farm located on the outskirts of Mpandawana growth point now resembles a war zone where houses and other buildings have been razed to the ground.
Three signposts have been erected by the Zimbabwe National Army at all entrances to the farm warning “intruders” that the area is now a military cantonment area, restricting “unauthorised persons” from entering the area.
The signs, written in red, read: “Ministry of Defence Protected Area Government Notice (1254/1981. Entry into cantonment area is prohibited. Unauthorised persons shall be prosecuted.”
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A war veteran and an ardent Zanu PF supporter, who declined to be named for fear of victimisation, was among those evicted and is staying in a makeshift structure with his wife, two children, his daughter-in-law and two grandchildren.
“I have nowhere else to go . . . this is the place that I had called home for the past 15 years. I demolished my original home in Buhera and someone has since settled there,” he said, fighting to control tears.
The villagers have no ablution facilities or potable water and are relieving themselves in the bush.
“Look how degrading it is for me to live like this with my children and daughter-in-law. I never imagined I would live like this in my entire life. When I moved from my original home area as a beneficiary of the government’s land reform programme, I thought I had done myself good, leaving the rocky area with less fertile soils.
“Some friends and relatives advised me against coming here, but I threw caution to the wind. Now I rue my decision and I have nobody but myself to blame.
“I have supported Zanu PF my entire life, but the party is now eating its own children,” he lamented.
Despite having been granted a court interdict by the Gutu Magistrates Court barring the army from evicting them or interfering with their operations, the villagers were pushed out on October 1 after minister Mahofa said the land belonged to the army.
“There is no contempt of court here….Chomfuli was legally given to the army in 1980,” she said.
Mahofa said the lands officials erred by resettling the villagers on the land and as such, the villagers were not entitled to any compensation from government.
“Officials from the Ministry of Lands erred by resettling the villagers there in the first place, so they are not going to get compensation,” Mahofa said.
For the past decade, the villagers stayed at the farm without anyone laying claim to the land. But now, as land has become scarcer in Masvingo province, and with the farm being conveniently close to Mpandawana growth point, interest in it has grown.
Mahofa said the villagers were paying for government’s mistakes and there was nothing anybody could do about it. The Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) has questioned why government failed to see the mistake in the past 15 years.
“The eviction amounts to the minister taking the law into her hands, and thumping her nose at both the country’s Constitution, and the courts,” the organisation said in a statement.
“Section 74 of the Constitution, which is part of Section 4 that contains the Bill of Rights, speaks clearly that citizens have the freedom from arbitrary eviction without a valid court order.
“Such an act of arbitrary eviction, against a court order, which is a blatant disregard of the rule of law, cannot be expected from a public official, whose oath of office is to serve the people and the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
“The arbitrary evictions doubtlessly violate the fundamental rights of the families, who include women and children, especially the right to shelter and dignity.
“It is important to note that the families said they were legally settled at the farm, as evidenced by their possession of certificates of occupation for those allocated model A1 farms and offer letters for those with A2 farms,” said ZimRights.
