Government Enlists Army To Assist Police In Farm Evictions
The government has enlisted the army and the President’s Department to support the police in evicting illegal settlers from farms, reported NewsDay.
This came out in the National Assembly last Thursday when Murewa South MP Noah Mangondo (ZANU PF) raised concerns about the proliferation of illegal settlements on A1 and A2 farms. Said Mangondo:
My question is: What is being done by the government to ensure that the issue of illegal settlements ends, especially since all these government departments are failing to resolve this issue?
In response, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Anxious Masuka said farmers should report the invaders to law enforcement agencies. He said:
If you go to the Lands office requesting them to come and evict the person who has settled on a farm unlawfully, you are approaching the wrong office. The police department has to sue those illegal settlers.
Hence, there is a need for people to go and report to the police that there are people who are illegally settling themselves so that police officers go and arrest them.
The land inspectorate section is another department under the Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development ministry that ensures the job is being done properly.
Masuka said that some land invaders have been threatening land officers during their visits to the farms. As a result, the army has been called in to assist the police with the eviction of these invaders. Said Masuka:
We have four groups working in the Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development ministry. We have also engaged the Zimbabwe National Army, Air Force, ZRP, the President’s Department and Prisons to have a joint operation command to help the honourable minister to make sure that the lands officer is able to reach the place where the illegal settlers are settled.
Persons who illegally settle themselves are breaching the law and they must be arrested.
We have now engaged the Surveyor-General to mark boundaries.
Despite the government’s implementation of a comprehensive land reform programme around 2000, hundreds of thousands of Zimbabwean families remain landless. Reports indicate that large tracts of land have been allocated to a small group of politically connected individuals and their relatives.
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