Beverly Bizeki

As the “Operation Order No To Land Barons” continues with the aim of bringing sanity to communal lands in Zimbabwe, another 49 residents from Chikutuva Village under Chief Bere in Masvingo have been hauled to the courts facing charges of settling within prohibited dam basin of Lake Mutirikwi.
The group, which is said to be contravening section 56(20) of the Water Act chapter 20:24, appeared before Masvingo Magistrate Elizabeth Hanzie on January 13, 2024, and was remanded out of custody to January 25 for continuation of trial.
It is the state’s case as presented by Godknows Mugondo that from 2000 to date the accused people have been occupying pieces of land under Lake Mutirikwi basin.
It is alleged that some of the people arrested have been buying land from village heads who are in the habit of selling land that belongs to the Ministry of Lands.
The police launched “Operation Order No to Land Barons” which has been running from January 10 to February 9 to bring sanity to communal lands in Zimbabwe.
This becomes the second time that the people of Chikutuva Village faced troubles over the illegal settlement, as back in 2019 government once issued eviction letters to them, resulting in conflicts between two local chiefs, Bere and Charumbira over possession of the land.
The villagers however said they were not prepared to leave their homes as this was where their ancestral homes were, with some even threatening to go and live at the Great Zimbabwe Monuments if they were to be evicted.
Evelyn Dovorogwa told TellZim back in 2019 that her ancestors were laid in the same area hence she was not going anywhere despite the eviction notices from the government.
“I was born here so where can I go now? Even if they burn and do everything (to destroy our houses) I am not going anywhere, my ancestors are here in this place,” said Dovorogwa.
In Masvingo province’s seven districts, approximately 13 000 illegal settlers are likely to be left homeless with government cracking down on land barons and people who are illegally selling or distributing communal lands.
Last week at least 49 arrests in Mushandike were made and nine people were taken to court over the same issue, with some of them being land barons facing charges of illegally distributing land.

Beverly Bizeki

Prospects for getting a third judge at Masvingo High Court might be a pipeline dream after Justice Rita Makarau said the high court was performing well despite being short staffed with only two judges manning the court instead of three.
Makarau shared the sentiments in her speech during the official opening of the legal year 2024 at the high court in Masvingo as she complemented the case clearance rate at the court which she said is at 95.5 percent for the civil division and 97.6 percent for the criminal division.
“The backlog is not alarming and the clearance rate of cases is astounding considering that the high court is still being manned by two instead of three judges.
“Such a clearance rate will make it difficult for authorities to accept my recommendation that a third judge be deployed to Masvingo as he or she may be under-employed. I will however continue to stress that it is highly desirable that a third judge be deployed to Masvingo for greater efficiency at the station,” said Makarau.
“The Masvingo High Court – Civil division commenced with 15 cases and received 623 cases to have a total workload of 638 cases. 609 cases were completed leaving 29 pending cases. The clearance rate for 2023 was an impressive 95.5 percent.
“The criminal division commenced with six cases and received 1 448 cases to have a total workload of 1 454 cases. 1 420 cases were completed leaving 34 pending cases,” she said.
Makarau also indicated that she had met the Masvingo community to hear their concerns before the official opening ceremony where stakeholders raised issues about the need for training of traditional leaders issues and the need for journalists to cover cases tried at the chief’s courts.
“The concerns raised by Chief Charumbira on the training of traditional leaders on legal issues need to be addressed. Equally so is the concern raised by the media that the fourth estate hardly covers cases that are tried at the chief’s courts yet these courts handle the larger volume of litigation than the general law courts,” she said.
Concerns on the use of the Integrated Electronic Case Management System (IECMS) introduced by the Judicial Service Commission, which was said to be shutting out members of the media as well as civilians from court proceedings.
The Masvingo high court is manned by Judge Justice Garainesu Mawadze and Judge Justice Sunsley Zisengwe.

…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.