Justice For Agriculture say no stolen equipment returned despite court orders

By Tererai Karimakwenda
07 March 2006

A report in The Standardnewspaper said that war veterans and Masvingo Assistant Police Commissioner Loveness Ndanga have finally begun to comply with orders from the High Court and orders from Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri to return farm equipment they seized illegally from farmers in the Lowveld area. The Masvingo Farm equipment Committee, headed by Mrs Ndanga, stole trillions of dollars worth of farm equipment from farmers in the Masvingo area last year, then defied high court orders to return it to the commercial farmers who had sought justice from the courts. But John Worsley Worswick of Justice for Agriculture (JAG), told us they have no confirmation from any farmers that equipment had been returned. He said much of it was given off to police and political chefs in the area and would now be difficult to trace.

The Standard said they visited a police recreation centre in Masvingo last week and saw piles of farm equipment that had been returned. But Worswick from JAG said they doubt that the original owners will ever get their property back. He told us new farmers in the area had been given some of the implements, and chefs had made a lot of money selling some of the tractors and irrigation equipment that was stolen.

The Standard report said the court orders to return equipment did not please provincial war veterans' leader Isaiah Muzenda, who allegedly called for a meeting last Sunday where he tried, and failed to incite, demonstrations against returning the stolen property. Chiredzi farmer Gerry Whitehead told us he too had heard about the failed Muzenda attempt to rally the war veterans. As for equipment, Whitehead said a very small number of the stolen equipment had been returned to the police station in Chiredzi and Masvingo. But none had been given back to the actual farmers as stipulated by the court orders. Whitehead said farmers believe a lot of the equipment was given to inexperienced people who damaged it before bringing it back. He said they plan to wait until all the equipment had been returned to the police, then they would have it inspected for damage by an independent party.

Meanwhile, pressure on the remaining farmers to vacate their properties remains intense. Worswick told us that although there were no evictions this week, many commercial farmers were being intimidated in an intensified campaign to force them out.