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Tawanda Mangoma in Chiredzi
Government has ordered a group of suspected war veterans, who illegally occupied sugarcane plots owned by Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe, to immediately vacate the land or face the full wrath of the law. The stern warning comes in the wake of occupation of some cane fields at Hippo Valley and Triangle by a group of suspected war veterans.

They are reportedly parcelling out the plots. Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Davis Marapira yesterday said it was illegal for people to allocate themselves land.

He said Government would never condone lawlessness on farms. Deputy Minister Marapira said Government will go a step further and blacklist all the illegal land occupiers at Tongaat cane fields.

They will be blocked from benefiting in future land allocations. “Please note that the allocation of land is done by the Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement. No one other than him is allowed to allocate land in Zimbabwe,” he said.

“It is upon this background that whoever is settling on land without an offer letter from the Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement is wasting his or her time and risks not being allocated land in future. No one is allowed to be on land without an offer letter.”

The deputy minister said Government will dispatch law enforcement agents to decisively deal with land grabbers in Chiredzi.

“My ministry will make sure that if ever there are such cases of people who take the responsible minister’s mandate to allocate land, they will face the law of this country. “This country has laws and no one is above the law,’’ he said.

Masvingo Provincial Administrator Mr Fungai Mbetsa confirmed receiving reports of the illegal land occupations in Chiredzi.

“I received reports of people who are allocating and occupying sugarcane plantations in Chiredzi and as a province we are not aware of any recent land allocations hence whoever is occupying land without an offer letter is an illegal occupant,” said Mr Mbetsa.

Sources in Chiredzi said a named war veterans leader in the district was behind the occupation of Tongaat cane fields after allegedly promising some cane plots in return for financial support in the just-ended ruling party primary elections.

Four years ago, scores of war veterans were jailed for six months after invading Tongaat cane plantations at Hippo Valley and Triangle.