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Harare – A government official invaded a farm owned by a white commercial landowner in Zimbabwe on Friday in another twist that highlights political inconsistencies in Zimbabwe’s controversial land reform program.
The farm invasion comes just weeks after the government said it will allow some white farmers who lost their land to the violent land reform program to return to their farms.
In August, Zimbabwe pledged to pay $ 3.5 billion in compensation to local white farmers whose lands were forcibly taken by the government to resettle black families, taking a further step toward resolving one of the most divisive policies in the country. the era of Robert Mugabe.
The government also said foreign white farmers settled in Zimbabwe whose lands were confiscated under the controversial program can apply for their return and will be offered land elsewhere if compensation proves unfeasible.
But on Friday, Martin Grobler, who had a farm in Ruwa, 30 kilometers from the capital Harare, was evicted after receiving a 24-hour notice.
Grobler said Ivy Rupandi, a government official with the Land Ministry, told him to move out of the property with immediate effect.
Grobler said Rupandi and an accomplice brought a truckload of police officers and a superior court sheriff before moving their property from the farm.
“Rupandi told me that she was now the new owner of the farm before they brought in a truckload of people and a sheriff from the court,” she said. “These people told us to move immediately.”
On Friday, the Information Ministry said it would investigate the matter amid a public outcry over the invasion of the estate.
In a statement, the ministry said: “We have been informed of a video showing the eviction of a farmer and his family. The government is trying to establish the facts behind this matter. What is known so far is that there is an inherited legal problem between the parties and the matter is being dealt with by the courts ”.
The government recently indicated that it was willing to work with evicted white farmers in associations to make the land productive, as vast tracts of land remain underutilized after the land reform program.
Once a South African granary, Zimbabwe’s food production has plummeted, forcing the country to import staple food items.
A land audit carried out by the government revealed huge irregularities in the allocation of farms, with some children as young as 10 years old reportedly obtaining land, while prominent officials own several farms.
Zimbabwe’s land reform still divides public opinion in the country, as thousands of black families benefited, but the number of white farmers dropped to just over 200 from 4,500 when land reforms began in 2000.
