…As govt cracks down on land barons
…49 already in court for illegal settlement as Police operation begins
Perpetua Murungweni
Approximately 13,000 illegal settlers across Masvingo Province are likely to be left homeless as government is currently cracking down on land barons and those illegally selling or distributing communal land.
49 people from Mushandike have since appeared at the Masvingo Magistrates Courts facing charges of illegally occupying gazetted state land, enabled by land barons who are also among the accused.
The number of those being charged is so big that some have reportedly been told to go back home and wait for summons for them to appear in court, as a big number of them thronged the Masvingo Magistrates Court on Thursday (January 11, 2024)
A Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) press statement on January 5 this year gave hint to the onset of an operation to “bring sanity in the State Lands, Communal Lands, Rural Service Centres and Peri-Urban areas”, as the blitz commenced five days later on January 10.
Addressing a press conference at his Benjamin Burombo offices on January 11, Masvingo Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Ezra Chadzamira said police were going to implement “Operation Order No to Land Barons” running from January 10 to February 9.
He confirmed that an estimate of 13,000 illegal settlers across all the seven districts of Masvingo were the ones targeted by the operation, urging them to move back to where they came from before the authorities visited them.
“If you are illegally settling on Communal land, Local Authority land, State land, Peri-Urban land, Rural Service Centres or Growth points you are advised to vacate immediately and follow the due processes in acquiring land.
“Government condemns without any reservation the illegal settlements, occupations, parcelling out and selling of land without the permission from relevant authorities, and people should report such activities and perpetrators to the nearest police station,” said Chadzamira.
Illegal settlements, which often become sources of conflict between locals, government and law enforcement authorities in Masvingo have been a topical issue, often being used by land barons to swindle people’s hard-earned money.
“Masvingo province has illegal settlements in all the seven administrative districts; Bikita, Chiredzi, Chivi, Gutu, Masvingo, Mwenezi and Zaka. These settlers occupy catchment areas, wetlands, grazing land, peri-urban areas and other agricultural land affecting productivity and threatening other dam and river catchments with siltation.
“The menace of land barons harms agricultural and other developmental activities. Land barons swindle people of their hard-earned cash for their selfish gains and this has led to the sprouting of informal settlements on properly planned farms and grazing land and in some cases on land already allocated to other beneficiaries. Many residents were duped into occupying state land without following properly laid procedures,” Chadzamira said.
With the ongoing operation, two Mushandike land barons have appeared in court, together with 47 of their clients who are also co-accused, facing charges of purported alienation of gazetted or other state land.
It is alleged that Aaron Tagarira (76) and Tinago Konde of village 15 Mushandike Resettlement from 2000 to date have been in the habit of allocating pieces of land to land seekers subdividing the area.
The land that they were giving out was gazetted land, which was planned and allocated to beneficiaries by the Lands Ministry.
Seven other accused persons namely Patricia Philip (62), Neshia Chishaka (50), Shumirai Manyeruke (46), Mercy Muteveri (26), Livias Manyeruke (25), Wilson Chiwere (36) and Latmos Bapiro (37) will appear in court on January 19 facing charges of occupying gazetted land without lawful authority.
It is the state’s case that from the year 2000 to date, the accused persons unlawfully occupied pieces of land under village 15 Mushandike Resettlement which is gazetted land without any tenure document.
Those who will be ordered to return to where they came from will unfortunately not get any compensation from the state, and will have to make plans either on their own or with the land barons who illegally sold the land to them.
