Plunder of Beitbridge paradise

News
Actions of Beitbridge lands officer, Mutilisa Moyo, backed up by police partisanship, and now the “the Sheriff’s Office” refusing to action High Court orders using the lack of a police escort as an excuse, is threatening the very future of Denlynian Farm, a pristine wildlife sanctuary.

Actions of Beitbridge lands officer, Mutilisa Moyo, backed up by police partisanship, and now the “the Sheriff’s Office” refusing to action High Court orders using the lack of a police escort as an excuse, is threatening the very future of Denlynian Farm, a pristine wildlife sanctuary.

The disappointing attitude of the Sheriff is in stark contrast to what it was when the Deputy Sheriffs were private individuals and carried out their duties with no fear or favour nor did they demand police escorts.

In fact we did have three ejectments of illegal invaders done in previous years by a lady Mrs Gumbo who was the Deputy Sherriff at the time all done without a police escort.

The lands officer in total contempt of High Court orders served on him as well as the Lands minister and the police in 2010 and on numerous occasions since are defiantly still pegging out plots allocating them in the main to senior government officials and wealthy businessmen most of whom don’t even emanate from the Beitbridge District.

We have, until now, at tremendous expense, accrued from legal costs, pursued the respectable channels and protocols, at ministerial, provincial and district levels.

This in the belief that the local police officers would afford us the same full protection we have received from the courts of Zimbabwe, and to carry out the instructions of the judgments and court orders that were handed down in the company’s favour.

The situation on the property is getting totally out of control with 10 to 12 invaders (not a single one of them actually lives on the farm) and with Moyo wandering around the property allocating and pegging out more as they call them “plots”.

There is now 400 to 500 head of cattle and a unknown number of goats all concentrated in a square kilometre of the Umzingwane indigenous forest which will be destroyed in a very short time and turned into a dustbowl.

To aggravate matters, with the 47km of the game fence having been vandalised and stolen, large numbers of cattle and donkeys are pouring onto the property in hundreds from the adjacent communal and resettled areas.

One and the most arrogant invaders, Lizwelenkosi Mlanga, has employed three herders who drive the cattle onto the centre of the game farm and water them at the game watering points developed by the company.

The cattle are driven along the roads which is turning them into rainwater drainage ditches.

The invaders have all been served with High Court ejectment orders some two and three times, which they have chosen to ignore on the advice of the lands officer who has assured them that nothing will happen to them.

The invaders have been led to believe that any “ejectment” without a police escort can be ignored

High Court Order 771/10 interdicted the lands officer “from taking any steps to cause any person to occupy the property or to hinder or disturb the legal occupants in their occupation thereof”.

The police in the same High Court order, were ordered “that they shall render such assistance as may be necessary to the appropriate officer of the court to evict all persons in order to enforce the court’s judgment” which the district police officer Chief Superintendent Patrick Majuta has consistently refused to do.

A further High Court order 3197/13 issued on October 8, 2014 which was not opposed by the police, “ordered that the officer in charge, ZRP Beitbridge and all those under his control or command are to give all possible assistance to the Deputy Sheriff of the High Court, in the execution of the warrant of eviction issued by this court in HC 771/2010.”

In spite of the above the district police officer commanding Beitbridge District, Chief Superintendant Majuta as recorded in the Deputy Sheriff’s Return of Service 2778 “Escort denied by Dispol CS Majuta”.

In the same Return of Service 2778 under Remarks, and I quote “Seen Dispol Majuta at ZRP Charge Office to request police escort-had lengthy two-hour discussion, CS Majuta says his interpretation of the Law is that Police are not obliged to Render assistance to the Sheriff”.

This is quite a revelation as the police are there to “apply the law” and it is not their function to “interpret the law” as he sees his function and he has maintained this attitude since first approached by the Deputy Sheriff in February 2014 when the physical ejectments should have been done.

We have written to the Commissioner-General of Police Augustine Chihuri on two occasions, but have not received any response or acknowledgement to date.

In fact the police as well have consistently refused to provide any RRB numbers for reports made for crimes committed by the invaders, nor have there been any prosecutions whatsoever.

The company staff are now reluctant to make any reports to the police as, on a number of occasions, they themselves have been arrested in response to reports made by the invaders always based on lies and on two occasions locked up overnight in police cells on trumped-up charges.

Their release was conditional on them signing an admission of guilt which our attorney had reversed with the public prosecutor.

The fact is that our staff who did initially look to the police for help and protection are now completely intimidated and threatened by the police and feel the less they have to do with them the better.

We have had to resort to recording affidavits with our attorney if only to have a record of events that might become useful when there is a return to the rule of law in the district and criminals are brought to account.

The net result is that the local lands officer, Moyo, has been emboldened by the police attitude and has been allocating and settling numerous new people.

When the invaders are asked what they are doing on the property they claim that they are there “by the authority of lands”.

The invaders must be emboldened as well by the complete lack of prosecutions for crimes committed by them.

These include the kidnapping of a hunting client, barricading members of my family and staff for 14 hours, assaults on our staff and their families, wholesale slaughter of the wildlife, two burglaries of the company safari lodge by known persons and theft of company assets and game fencing to the value of in excess of $800 000.

The lands officer and former assistant district administrator, Peter Moyo initiated and actually led the mass, violent invasion in October 2013 when foreign safari clients from Poland were ejected as well as all the company staff from the property overnight.

Lands officer Moyo continues to peg out and allocate plots all concentrated in a square kilometre area on the banks of the Umzingwane River.

I write this whilst making an appeal for justice and in an attempt to let everyone know what is taking place in a tiny corner of the country.

When one considers that this is occurring in direct defiance of court orders and is being perpetrated by officers of the government with the support of our law enforcement authorities, it highlights the shameful state of our country and the need for this story to be exposed.

It is through public exposure that those who believe in justice and order can positively influence events and bring this madness to an end.

This exposure denies the cowardly perpetrators sufficient cover to hide their disgraceful behaviour from public view and from those in higher authority who have stated that this conduct is no longer considered constitutionally lawful or morally acceptable.