Masvingo police admit political chefs ordered looting of agricultural equipment

By Tererai Karimakwenda
31 January 2006

The Zimonline news site reports that the Masvingo assistant police Commissioner Loveness Ndanga said on Monday that the Farm Equipment Committee she heads took farm equipment in the area because they were following "political orders and not court orders". This confirms the suspicions of farmers in the area who have said the seizure of their equipment late last year must have been ordered by officials at the top. Zimonline also revealed that Ndanga claimed the farm equipment was loaned to war veterans and other senior police officers, and accused the white farmers of sabotaging the country. But it is known that auctions were held in the area at which some of the equipment was sold. Ignoring court orders to return the stolen property, the police are now after the victimised farmers, ordering them to report to their headquarters to answer charges of sabotage.
Farmer Gerry Whitehead, whose equipment was stolen by Ndanga’s squad, said he will absolutely not report to the police. He has a court order for the return of his equipment which the police are ignoring, and he said there are no police left in the area, just government agents in police uniform. Whitehead admitted disabling his equipment, but explained that all farmers do this to protect against theft. But he said they had no idea the thieves would turn out to be the police themselves. As for Ndanga’s admission, Whitehead said they already know this was political, and have information that it is state security and land distribution minister Didymus Mutasa who is behind the orders to take farm equipment.

This scenario is a perfect example of the confusion created by the government over its farm policies. On one hand top officials including Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono and Robert Mugabe himself have condemned farm evictions and interruptions with agriculture, saying this is criminal behaviour that is depriving the country of food. But on the other, they have allowed the looting of commercial farms to continue with no protection for the farmers and with no arrests on record to date. It is government officials, state agents and police themselves who have continued to ignore the rule of law. And the Masvingo commissioner’s admission that they follow political orders not court orders is significant in this regard.

According to Zimonline the Masvingo chairman of the war veterans, Isaiah Muzenda, also confirmed that some of the farm equipment had been given to members, but he complained that the police had kept most of the equipment for themselves. The current court order to return equipment is the second one issued by Justice Barat Patel, after police ignored the first. If government was serious about saving agriculture and feeding the nation, surely there would be some arrests and protection for the remaining commercial farmers. But instead, farm evictions and equipment seizures continue.