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George Maponga in Masvingo
OVER 50 families are living in the open in Masvingo after their homes were allegedly razed to the ground by riot police at the weekend in an operation to clamp down on illegal farm settlers across the province.Some of the land occupiers were left virtual paupers after their belongings were consumed in fire when their houses were set ablaze during the demolition.

Riot police have over the past seven days been demolishing houses built by settlers at Sundowns, Hungoidza, Roy, Mukaro and Mukumba farms east of Masvingo that were occupied by landless villagers at the beginning of last year. The settlers from as far as Bikita, Zaka and Chivi allege that the indigenous farm owners are fronts for white former farmers and vowed to stay on the land despite their latest setback.

When The Herald visited the families at Sundowns, Mukumba, Hungoidza and Mukaro farms, some of the families vowed to stay put on the land and have already set up makeshift structures after their homes were razed. One of the settlers, Mr Jermitious Mazhaka of Rudhadha in Zaka, who occupied Sundowns Farm in July last year, said he was driven to occupy the farm by hunger for land and vowed to stay put.

“Our homes were destroyed by riot police who came here over the weekend saying we are supposed to leave this property since it is a black-owned farm, but what hurts us most is that the so-called farm owners are not doing any farming activities,” said Mr Mazhaka.

He said he could not go back to his rural home in Zaka where he claimed the land was rocky and unsuitable for agriculture.
“We appeal to Government to help us because we have nowhere to till owing to the rocky nature of the land back there in the village. I could no longer sustain my large family with the food that I produced in the village. That is why I came here and we will never leave this place,’’ he said.

Mr John Mabwe of Mukanganwi communal lands, who also occupied Sundown Farm in February this year allegedly, lost all his belongings after his houses were set on fire.

“I was not around when police accompanied by the farm owners came here at the weekend and set my huts on fire before demolishing them. I am now a virtual pauper because all my belongings were destroyed. I was left with nothing, but I have nowhere to go,’’ he said.

Mr Mabwe has since erected a makeshift plastic home where he is now staying and said the future was bleak for him as he was now a pauper.
“I do not know what I will do if the rains come because I was left with virtually nothing and am more worried about my family because we are staying in the open at the moment. We appeal to Government to offer us any kind of assistance,’’ he said.

The settlers said Government was supposed to regularise their stay at the farms so that they do not continue to be harassed by the police.
They appealed to Government to issue them offer letters to allow them uninterrupted stay and tilling the land. Masvingo police spokesperson Inspector Peter Zhanero said he was still to get the details about what happened to the settlers.

Land-hungry villagers from areas such as Gutu, Bikita and Zaka have been flooding some farms in Masvingo East which they have been occupying arguing that the indigenous owners were proxies for former white farmers.

Some of the settlers have been arrested and taken to the courts in the past but they still return to occupy the properties which they allege are underutilised.

Masvingo has officially run out of farms to resettle people with over 5 000 people on the waiting list for land and the provincial leadership has been trying to regularise the settlement of thousands of people who are irregularly settled at some of the properties across the drought-prone province.