WAR veterans re-settled on a farm in Chiredzi have accused ex-Masvingo governor, Willard Chiwewe of fraudulently acquiring an offer letter for the same property and vowed to resist his efforts to evict them.
The war veterans – who include retired army officers – said they were allocated Maranatha Farm in Chiredzi some ten years ago but had not been able to carry out any production over the past five years after their water pump was vandalised.
The six farmers said they have since managed to install a new pump allowing faming activities to resume.
They claimed that each farmer is expecting to earn about US$150, 000 in gross revenue from supplying sugar cane to Hippo Valley Estates which has attracted the interest of Chiwewe.
“Chiwewe fraudulently got an offer letter from ‘the top’ and he now wants to use his ailing political muscle and corrupt political and civil connections in the province to evict the farmers who are now busy contributing to the resuscitation of the sugar industry in the Lowveld,” the farmers said in a statement.
“His name is not known in the Sugarcane Association and he does not have a milling quota with Hippo Valley in addition to the fact that he has never farmed and supply Hippo valley with the cane.”
The war veterans claimed that Chiwewe had threatened to enlist the help of riot police to kick them off the property along with the white former owner who still resides in the farm house.
“The war veterans have vowed that no politician should be allowed to take land that has already distributed to the black farmers,” they said.
“We agreed at a recent meeting to take the matter up with the Masvingo provincial leadership, and failing to get help there, appeal to President Robert Mugabe.”
Chiwewe could not be reached for comment.
A former permanent secretary for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Chiwewe is said to own several farms in the province, most of the acquired during his tenure as governor.
He was accused of owning at least three farms but argued that one belonged to his wife while the other one had been allocated to his daughter.
Chiwewe also refused to move off a farm he tried to seize from a black family which had bought the property from its white former owners.