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The magistrate, clad in his traditional black regalia, walks into the court in an authoritative gait and everyone rises in respect.
Taking up his chair, with a slight bow and carefully placing his file on the table before him, everyone sits down after His Worship.

“Morning your Worship!’’ shouts the prosecutor, exuding a typical business aura.
“Morning!” he replies, staring into the public gallery and flipping papers on the file before him.
“If it pleases this Honourable Court, Your Worship, may we please deal with the matter of the State versus Moses Chitanda?” continues the prosecutor.

“Yes, sure!’’ answers the magistrate with a nod.
Court procedures start with the preferring of charges, defence, cross examination etc and the rest is as per jurisprudence.
A trial, sentencing, bail applications and intermittent remands and adjournments are the order of the day.

At the end of the day, justice is delivered.
After hours, the magistrate changes roles, removing his magisterial garb for a work suit and drives to his farm, at Plot 11, of Buffalo Ranch Farm, a spitting distance from the teeming town.
The mission is to see progress of the day at the sugarcane plantation he got, courtesy of the land reform programme. There is a thriving 18-hectare plantation of sugarcane, which is no mean feat for any new farmer.

This is the success story of Chiredzi Regional Magistrate Mr Aenias Magate, who only became a farmer under the land reform programme.
Before that he was just a magistrate who never had the chance to till the land.
During the weekends and any free day, Mr Magate is practically involved in the farming activities and literary joins his workers in the fields.

“Farming is business. You need to monitor progress of that day. There are cellphones these days, but you need to see it for yourself that work has been done according to plan. That is very important!
“Sugarcane farming in complex and specialised. Things have to be done on time and according to the book. I also have a job to do at the court and justice must be delivered with due diligence. I need to apply my mind on both jobs.
“You need to look at every case’s merits and demerits. You need to look at all the facts and circumstances. At the end, justice must be done,’’ said Mr Magate.

Mr Magate who has successfully uprooted all the sugarcane he inherited from the former white commercial farmer and planted his own, has been rewarded by Triangle Estate, the buyer of sugarcane for being among the very few new farmers who have managed to plant a new crop. The rest of the farmers are still harvesting what they found in place.
“In sugarcane farming, you plant once and harvest the crop annually for 10 years. The yields start deteriorating around the sixth year and by the 10th year, the harvest is poorer,
“I was not sure when the white farmer had planted the crop so I decided to uproot everything two years ago and now I have managed to replace all the sugarcane on my 18-ha plot. I have utilised my land 100 percent and I no longer have an extra inch to plant anything. That means my land has become too small for me.

“I expect 90 to 100 tonnes of sugar (CRS) per ha. Our tonnage is different from the normal tonnage but we understand the language ourselves. It has always been my wish to fully utilise my land and I have done so,’’ said Mr Magate.

Under the land reform programme, the Government allocated blacks, who had been denied the opportunity to grow sugarcane, which was largely a preserve of a few white commercial farmers and multi-national companies, 18 ha of land each.

Mr Magate, then a magistrate based in Masvingo City, was among the black beneficiaries and has now since proved that he really needed the land.
His style of farming and his management style have shamed detractors of the land reform programme.
When you ask people in Triangle and Chiredzi Towns about the success story of a black farmer, they will tell you about Mr Magate. He has over the past few years managed to acquire the necessary equipment for farming and transportation of sugar cane.

“Of course, I had to acquire this special equipment which includes a Perry-Loader and a tractor, among others. I employ a very good manager. Most of the black farmers fail because they don’t want to employ good capable people and pay them.
“In farming you will not win without paying your labour force well. You need the labour force and you need a good manager too. You must know when to increase your labour and when to reduce it, depending on the job demands,’’ said Mr Magate.

He adds: “There must be no room for failure in this type of farming because Triangle Estates are prepared to contract all serious farmers. They give you inputs if you like and they give you chemicals if you like and when you sell to them they make their deductions.
“Failure is not an option! Farming is the best thing that has happened to me. We should all pay back to Government by utilising the land that was allocated to us!”
His is a tale of two professions, both executed with precision.-The Herald