A BULAWAYO magistrate yesterday freed five villagers from Insiza and Mberengwa accused of parcelling out land including parts of Debshan Ranch owned by the wealthy Oppenheimer family saying they had not committed any offence.
BY SILAS NKALA
Senior magistrate Sibongile Msipa-Marondedze said the villagers could not be prosecuted because there was no penalty for parcelling out land.
She said this during the appearance of the five Fort Rixon and Mberengwa villagers who were accused of illegally allocating grazing land to 35 villagers at Inyozani Village 1, Fort Rixon, without authority.
Jeremiah Ncube (64) of Fort Rixon was charged with illegally allocating land to two Mberengwa villagers — Tafadzwa Sibanda (33) and Fortune Dube (25) — who invaded the Debshan Farm paddock number 61.
They were charged alongside two Mpalawani villagers in Fort Rixon — Trynos Mpofu (27) and Enock Msindo (18) — who also invaded the same farm’s paddock number 62.
The accused were not asked to plead.Prosecutor Dumisani Ndlovu had alleged that Ncube on July 2013 unlawfully allocated stands to 35 families at Inyozani Village 1 grazing lands, a place which was gazetted as a grazing area for livestock.
He was taken to the Insiza district administrator’s office by a villager, Lovemore Dube, and was told that he should stop allocating land to people in that area as he did not have authority.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
He was later arrested for the offence.It is the State case that the Mberengwa villagers, Sibanda and Dube, on May 9 invaded the Debshan Ranch paddock 61 which was not gazetted for any allocation and constructed their settlement.
They were discovered by Douglas Mpofu who reported the invasion to the police.He later went to the place in the company of the police who arrested the two when they were found working the piece of land.
The court heard that Mpalawani villagers, Mpofu and Msindo, allegedly invaded Debshan Farm paddock number 62 and started erecting mud huts.
They were arrested when they were found by the Debshan Ranch security personnel who took them to the police, leading to their arrest. Debshan Ranch is a major beef producer.
