Farming Soldiers

Staff reporter

16 January, 2006

The Zimbabwe Independent newspaper has reported that Government has deployed uniformed forces into Mashonaland West province – to grow food.
It’s the latest government ‘Operation’ – Operation Maguta. The soldiers will till the land to grow food – a last ditch attempt to overcome the chronic food shortages caused by the farm invasions. The newspaper said military lorries off-loaded farming implements which included disc harrows and planters at Hunyani Farm near Chinhoyi. Some of the equipment was taken to farms in the Banket and Mazvikadei areas. And there’s Chinese involvement here as it’s the Chinese who’ve been clearing vast acres of land.
The operation was conceived and spearheaded by the Joint Operations Command of the army, police, prisons and the intelligence service, and started in November last year with the illegal seizure of equipment from individual farms across the country. The seizures were rampant in Masvingo where a team led by Assistant Commissioner Loveness Ndanga, including armed police, army personnel, prisons officials and war veterans uplifted billions of dollars worth of farm equipment from Masvingo, Chiredzi and Mwenezi.
Due to the late planting it’s unlikely that the government will be able to create the crop they are hoping for.