Zimbabwe Ministers sue each other over land

Zimbabwe Ministers sue each other over land

KEMBO MOHADI

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By Agencies

KEMBO Mohadi, Zimbabwe's Home Affairs Minister is suing his colleague, Agriculture Minister Joseph Made, after war veterans invaded his farm.

Ironically, Mohadi whose ministry is responsible for the police, has failed to get the invaders evicted.

He says some of the illegal settlers have destroyed the fence at his property and let loose at least 75 cattle that have been valued at more than US $6 000.

He claims the disturbances have even prevented him from producing at the farm and paying back a loan of about $33 000 to the agricultural and rural development authority. The invaders are also allegedly disrupting work on the property, with Mohadi saying he has paid heavily to start full use of his resources and engage in commercial agriculture.

His farm is situated in the south-western frontier district of Beitbridge, where it borders resettlements from where a number of the war veterans are reported to have come and started pegging plots on his land. Mohadi's lawyers say they are now working with the deputy sheriff to evict the invaders, after winning a High Court application to stop Joseph Made, the agriculture minister, and the other accused from disturbing activities on the property.

The legal representatives say the issue is mainly of boundaries between Mohadi's farm and other blacks resettled in the district. At least 26 people are said to have been allocated plots with the help of the district administrator and war veterans' leaders in the area. Mohadi's case is one of the many controversies being witnessed in the agrarian reforms the government launched soon after it lost a referendum to change the constitution. The new supreme law would allow the state to take over white-owned land without compensation.

Agricultural experts say the authorities were not prepared for the massive invasions by ex-combatants and peasants in 2000, and they were forced into the controversial programme, which is now characterised by multiple ownership, corruption and lack of direction. However, the Zimbabwean government maintains its land reforms stand as a shining example in Africa's quest to use its own natural resources at will, especially the primary means of production, the land.
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