Where were they Dr Murerwa?

Premier Tsvangirai-We are aware that there are people using fraudulent allocation letters to invade farms and disrupt farming operations



Minister of Lands Dr Hebert Murerwa-There are no fresh Farm inversions in the country.Jomic can investigate veracity of such claims


The State owned Sunday Mail reports that Minister of Lands, Dr Herbert Murerwa, on Friday said JOMIC had been mandated to immediately look into the allegations of invasions and come up with evidence of such invasions, if there are any.
That is great news coming as it does from a minister who recently categorically denied that there were new incidences of fresh farm invasions across the country

“Dr Murerwa said he held a meeting with all the Provincial Governors on Thursday in Harare to find out if there were any invasions.

We met with Governors, who revealed that they had not received any new cases of farm invasions in their respective provinces although there have been some disturbances,’ the Sunday Mail disclosed.

“Dr Murerwa said most of the disturbances now being perceived as new farm invasions were taking place on those farms once owned by the 77 farmers who had refused to leave the farms pending the Sadc Tribunal ruling.

These farms were acquired long back and were now State land. The State had issued offer letters to beneficiaries who had also failed to occupy the farms until the recent developments.

‘These beneficiaries are holders of valid offer letters. Government is now, through JOMIC, looking at the evidence of these reported invasions if there are any in any area,’ he is reported as having said.

If the beneficiaries were allocated the lend in 2005 and did not for whatever reason take up the offers are there no grounds for spoliation when they just pitch up at the farms in midsummer to claim ownership of the farms and crops planted by the people who were resisting eviction?

In any event how serious are these beneficiaries at farming if they allowed their land to be derelict for 4 years before deciding it was time to move onto the land?

We smell a rat given the reported meeting between the self confessed Zanu PF Attorney General and Zanu PF political leadership in Mashonaland West Province wherein it was resolved that Magistrates should ignore the SADC Tribunal ruling in favour of the farmers occupying the land and those with offer letters take occupancy of the farms forthwith before the coalition government takes root.

Minister Murerwa did not address that aspect which appears to have triggered the current rush to occupy the farms nationwide.

More pertinently where is the logic behind forcing out sitting productive farmers and replacing them with unproductive potential farmers who were content to sit back while their lands were put to unknown uses by illegitimate State tenants?

Is Zimbabwe a partial member of SADC to the extent that it does not accept rulings by SADC Courts in so far as Land ownership is concerned but is quite happy to accept a coalition government recommended by the same regional bloc ?

Why was it acceptable for Zanu PF to implement a SADC order to co-Minister the Home Affairs Ministry and in the process materially alter the GPA Ministerial contingent agreement clause yet unacceptable to implement the SADC Tribunal recommendation not to discriminate land allocation on racial grounds?

What does the Zimbabwe Constitution say about discrimination on racial grounds that are at variance with the SADC tribunal ruling in question?

Dr Murerwa said he had consulted with all Provincial Governors and they had indicated that there were no new cases of farm invasions in their provinces.

Are these the same Zanu PF Governors that were irregularly appointed by President Mugabe and whom JOMIC has recommended must be terminated and replaced by Governors from Parties in the coalition government that won majority support respectively in each of the 10 Provinces of the country?

How reliable and impartial are these so called Governors? In any event if JOMIC is to investigate and establish that indeed there are fraudulent occupations of farms what guarantees are there that the coalition government will act on their findings given the current hesitancy to move on the unresolved yet agreed upon GPA clauses?
“Mashonaland West Governor and Resident Minister Faber Chidarikire said he had no information on new invasions in his province.

He said the problem in Chegutu District was being caused by former owners whose farms were acquired and allocated to beneficiaries, but are resisting occupation by new owners.

‘These former owners have been resisting basing their argument on the Sadc Tribunal. But the laws of this country are very clear on that — land acquired becomes State land. The beneficiaries who have been holding for too long on their offer letters have become impatient and they are moving in, but not as new invaders,’’ he is reported to have informed Minister by the Sunday Mail.

“ Chidarikire said investigations had revealed that some of the farmers in the Chegutu District were actually left as caretakers when the owners left for other countries after the acquisition of their farms by Government.”

But that is at variance with the Ministerial contention that land was acquired by the State and the State alone can allocate it to anyone. Which absentee owners is the so called Governor alluding to if the farms are State land as the minister says they are?

The current rush to occupy the farms is a Zanu PF political project to derail coalition government efforts to carryout land audits and establish multiple land owners from the Party.

If the allotted beneficiaries could wait for whatever reason to take occupancy for 4 years there is nothing compelling them to wait another two years for the government to establish who legitimately owns what land and settle them in a planned manner that is not disruptive to agricultural productivity?

Where were they to be in a rush to occupy the farms only now?

"People must not be under any illusion at all that because there is a new Government, there will be a stoppage of the land reform programme. Government will continue to settle the landless under the laws of this country,’’ the Sunday Mail quoted Advocate Dinha the Mashonaland Central Zanu PF imposed Governor.

Indeed but which government is he referring to when the leader of Government and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is livid that the upsurge in current farm invasions is not in sync with government planning? To that extent he has instructed Home Affairs Co-Ministers to investigate the unwelcome development.

We hope that being appointed governor irregularly has not got into Advocate Dinha’s Zanunised brain that he is the defacto government.

“Mashonaland East Governor Aeneas Chigwedere said he had no information on new farm invasions. He warned Zimbabweans to be wary of some elements that were not happy with the formation of the inclusive Government and were out to derail it.

‘As stated in the Global Political Agreement, the land reform programme is irreversible,’ disclosed the Sunday Mail said.

First Chigwedere’s tenure of office at the Ministry of Education is not aspiring at all for him to be taken seriously in whatever leadership role he will be assigned by Zanu PF.

Secondly a reversal can only be possible on an event that has already occurred and not one that occurs after a prescribed period.

Indeed the Parties agreed in the GPA that they will not reverse the chaotic land reforms carried out by previous regimes but committed themselves to audit who owns what land out of the chaos with a view of enforcing the underpinning one man one farm concept .

Those moving onto the farms after that decision are creating a new dimension that was not addressed by the GPA declaration that the land reform programme is irreversible as they were not considered part of the problem or challenge when the agreement was thrashed.

Fortunately there is provision that when the agreed land Audit is carried out and it is determined that they are entitled to defined land allotments they will be resettled in a planned manner while those that may have prevented their resettlement are legally removed by the State which owns the land and has agreed to lease it to the current claimants invading the farms.

By moving onto the farms and causing the State to commit resources to investigating whether or not they are entitled to the lands they are not helping the planned audit and resettlement programme agreed by the coalition government and they deserve to be arrested and removed from the farms regardless of the legitimacy or otherwise of their offer letters.

They will be resettled when the land audit is complete and in a transparent and orderly manner not through invasions that have contributed to the collapse of our agricultural industries and economy.

JOMIC can start with interviewing Chinotimba and his ZFTU subordinates who are reportedly extorting vast sums of money from the under siege farmers.