http://www.zimbabwesituation.c...race-evictions-farm/



Govt moves game onto Grace evictions farm
Posted on January 14, 2015 by ZimSitRep_


via Govt moves game onto Grace evictions farm New Zimbabwe 13/01/2015

HARDLY two days after the High Court barred the eviction of families from the Manzou farm in Mazowe, government has announced that it has taken control of the property and will soon be moving wild animals there from other sanctuaries.

A ZBC report which made no mention of the Monday ruling said “Manzou farm in Mazowe, formerly known as Arnold farm, will soon be habitat to the big five and other wildlife”.

The report said officials from the National Parks and Wildlife Authority, National Museums and Monuments, and the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) on Tuesday found that the farm “was seriously under threat from settlers who were undertaking illegal gold panning, causing serious land degradation”.

There was outrage last week after police swooped on the farm, destroying houses and trying to evict around 200 families from the property, which is near First Lady Grace Mugabe’s dairy and orphanage in the central Mazowe district.

Government moved quickly to deny reports that Grace was behind the evictions saying the farm is merely being returned to its status as a national heritage site.

But Grace is reported to have told a rally in Mazowe last year that she wanted to take over a nearby conservancy and use it to generate income for her orphanage.

On Monday the High Court barred police from evicting villagers from the park.

In an interview with Newzimbabwe.com on Tuesday, minister of State for Mashonaland Central provincial affairs Martin Dinha warned resisting families at Manzou against placing much hope on the court order.

Dinha said while the government would comply with the ruling, that did not mean the families will not be evicted.

“We will comply with the court ruling as a law abiding nation. We are happy with the ruling since this is a provisional order,” said Dinha.

“We will go back to the courts to argue our case. We have always said the land is not for human settlement but it is earmarked for a game reserve and to host a monument for our liberation war icon-Ambuya Nehanda.

“We have told the courts and they have understood. They said give them alternative land which we have done that. We have set aside three settlements for the relocation and others complied. It is only a few who have refused,” he said.

Talk about a lawless society!

quote:

We will comply with the court ruling as a law abiding nation. We are happy with the ruling since this is a provisional order,” said Dinha.

http://www.zimbabwesituation.c...mals-dailynews-live/


Grace replaces villagers with animals
Posted on January 16, 2015 by ZimSitRep_


via Grace replaces villagers with animals – DailyNews Live 16 January 2015 by Lloyd Mbiba

HARARE – The blatant lies by senior Zanu PF political figures and government officials regarding Manzou Farm in Mazowe are finally over after the minister of State for Provincial Affairs for Mashonaland Central, Martin Dinha, finally confirmed that the farm will be given to First Lady Grace Mugabe after all, who will run it as a wildlife sanctuary.

This means, as the Daily News has reported all along, that Grace will replace the poor families of Manzou with wild animals.

In a sudden about-turn on Wednesday night, Dinha confirmed that Grace had applied for a licence to run an animal sanctuary and had been duly awarded the vast and fertile farm bordering her other multi-million business and farming interests in the area.

He did not say how much this project of moving animals to the farm and repairing infrastructure such as the fencing would cost, and whether Grace would pay for all this.

Hundreds of desperate families have already been removed from the farm, notwithstanding a court order barring the police from ejecting the poor peasants.

“Affirmatively, the first lady has applied for a permit to run part of Manzou. We have recommended that she be given a permit,” the exposed Dinha told VOA’s Studio 7 — after spending days denying that the controversial, illegal and callous evictions were for the benefit of Grace.

He said by next week, the National Parks department would have already released lions and elephants onto the farm.

“As we speak, the Department of National Parks is already putting a fence and by Monday next week lions and elephants will be on that farm.”

Last week, heavily armed police descended on Manzou Farm, indiscriminately and arbitrarily demolishing homes, slashing crops and setting on fire personal belongings of the villagers.

At the time Dinha, along with Zanu PF, denied vehemently that the First Family was in any way involved in the evictions, arguing falsely and rather self-servingly that Grace was a “philanthropist” who would never destroy people’s livelihoods.

This was after High Court Judge Erica Ndewere had on Monday granted a provisional order stopping the evictions if no alternative places of residence were not availed by the state.

A chorus of condemnation to the callous removals, including the displacement of children from their school, as well as the wanton destruction of crops and property, had fallen on deaf ears.

In his new tune, Dinha claimed yesterday that 1 200 families from Manzou had already been resettled, and that only a handful of people were resisting the resettlement.

“These people are mischievous. We have already found them land to settle elsewhere and they are trying to stop us. The relief they got from the High Court was only temporary and not final,” he said.

Former Justice deputy minister and Mazowe South legislator, Fortune Chasi, told the Daily News last week that the government needed to be sensitive to the plight of the affected families.

“I have been to my constituency and have witnessed evidence of the displaced people. Given that the atmosphere is charged and tense, I was unable to do anything.

“There were armed police evicting people and what can I do under those circumstances as I become powerless since the whole matter involves the First Family,” Chasi said.

Grace, in her vitriolic attacks on Chasi in August last year, accused the legislator of “terrorising” her in the area, where she owns a number of farms and runs her Amai Grace Mugabe Children’s Home.

She also disclosed then, and the video of this is available on YouTube, that she wanted the Manzou Farm.

“Zvazvakaita ndakaita apply pane conservancy iri kuseri uko (said to be Manzou) which was being run by the whites,” she said. “Ndikangoona yakagara, then I applied to use it to raise mari yekuchengeta vana pano apa ndobva ndapiwa tsamba inini.

“Saka vanhu vakangozvigarisa vaichera chera imomo vakanzi vabude, iye (Chasi) akati ‘muri kuvaburitsirei? Mugabe nemukadzi wake vari kuda kutora land yese.’ Akaenda kucourt nevanhu vaye kuti kana hazvimboite.

“Iye akapiwa farm naVa(Martin) Dinha akariramba. Akatengwa nemurungu akapiwa mari akati handiride,” she said.

(I applied for a conservancy in this area (Manzou) which was being run by whites. I had seen it lying idle and I applied to use it to raise money to look after children at the Mazowe Children’s Home and I was given an offer letter by authorities. The people who were squatting on that conservancy were then ordered off the property, but Chasi queried why these people were being kicked off the land. He alleged that Mugabe and his wife wanted to take all the land. Chasi went to court with these squatters to resist the takeover of the conservancy. But he was given land by Martin Dinha and he refused because he had been given money by the white owner.)

I can't believe the natives don't revolt against these self-serving thugs.

quote:

Originally posted by Bud Meadows:
I can't believe the natives don't revolt against these self-serving thugs.

You could apply the above to practically every country in the world today!

quote:

You could apply the above to practically every country in the world today!

Third World countries don't have the "finesse and diplomacy" in shafting their populations as do the more advanced, democratic nations of the West.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201501180404.html


Zimbabwe: Lions, Elephants Used to Kick Out Manzou Villagers

By Everson Mushava

Parks and Wildlife Management Authority employees were yesterday busy fencing Manzou Farm as they prepare to bring in the first batch of wild animals, reportedly lions and elephants.

The move to bring in the dangerous animals, according to the beleaguered villagers that are still living at the farm on the strength of a High Court order, is meant to force them out of the farm without the police doing anything.

There is still no move by the government to relocate the villagers to an alternative piece of land as provided for by the court order.

What this means is that villagers would be chased away from the farm by the dangerous animals and they will not be able to go back to the courts to complain because it is the animals and not the police that would have forced them out.

As many as 150 families are reported to be still at the farm because they have nowhere else to go even though their houses and property were burnt down in last week's brutal police eviction action.

Aspinas Makufa -- one of the villagers whose home was destroyed by police last week -- told The Standard that National Parks workers were on the ground erecting a fence in preparation for the first batch of animals.

"We feel government is defying a court order by bringing animals here before we are relocated. They are using animals to drive us away so that they would not seem as if they are in contempt of court. If they bring lions here, we have no choice but to move away," Makufa said.

It was not clear how a national institution was getting involved in the construction of a fence on a property said to belong to First Lady Grace Mugabe (pictured right) who is putting up a personal multi-million dollar wildlife sanctuary there.

What would have been expected of National Parks was just to bring in the animals bought by the property owner but the business of making the place safe or protected would be left to the investor.

Makufa said over 150 villagers were still on Anold and Spenenken farms and were sleeping under trees, exposed to the vagaries of the weather. Heavy rains are reported to have fallen in the area yesterday.

Although Provincial Affairs minister Martin Dinha has said Grace had nothing to do with the evictions, he admitted that the First Lady had been granted a wildlife licence to operate the sanctuary, a move that confirms reports that the villagers were being evicted to expand Grace's business empire in the green valley.

Parks spokesperson Caroline Washayamoyo was not available to give more light on who owns the wildlife sanctuary that gave them the instruction to fence the area. Anold and Spenenken farms were cattle ranching farms when the villagers moved in at the height of the land reform programme in 2000.

Police, allegedly under the command of Grace, have also reportedly ordered about 600 more families occupying the adjacent Cetic Farm 1 to 4 to vacate. The farm forms part of Manzou Estate which the First Lady is said to be determined to turn into a wildlife park.

"We are sleeping in the open with our children and we are not building any structures as police officers are always patrolling the area ordering us to leave, despite the court order," Makufa said.

"They [police] say they are now bringing in animals like elephants and lions. It means they are technically throwing us out. We have cattle and goats, so how can we cohabit with lions?" asked the distraught Makufa.

Makufa, who together with other villagers on Friday returned to the courts to have Home Affairs minister Kembo Mohadi, Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri and Lands minister Douglas Mombeshora arrested for contempt of court, said they were not resisting eviction but they just did not have anywhere to go.

With the coming in of elephants on Manzou, some villagers said more people on surrounding farms were likely to be evicted. This would also mean the end of the Interfresh orange project as elephants would need more roaming space.

Elephants are known to love oranges and would stop at nothing to get to the orange estate and in the process ravage the nearby maize and other crops.

Anybody know how big of an area they are talking about?

http://www.zimbabwesituation.c...game-dailynews-live/



‘Manzou Farm not fit for ‘Big Five’ game’
Posted on January 21, 2015 by ZimSitRep_W

via ‘Manzou Farm not fit for ‘Big Five’ game’ – DailyNews Live 21 January 2015

HARARE – Manzou Farm in Mazowe, which has been given to First Lady Grace Mugabe to run as a wildlife sanctuary, is not fit for “Big Five” game, Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF) has said.

Johnny Rodriguez, chairman of ZCTF, told the Daily News yesterday that Manzou Farm should not be turned into a game park as the “Big Five” game — comprising lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros species — will pose problems to villagers.

“I think it is wrong what they are doing,” Rodriguez said.

“Mazowe is an agricultural area and the wild animals will cause a lot of problems for the villagers. I think Mazowe should be reserved for agriculture activities and not a game park.

“But we know that when you talk about the ‘Big Five’ you are talking about big monies.

“People all over the world will come and hunt and this means money. But we can’t put money first ahead of the people.”

The ZCTF chairman questioned where the government would get funds to secure the farm.

“In order to have a game park, there are security measures that they need to put in place like fencing,” he said.

“Who is paying for this when they are struggling to pay workers? Who is paying for the transportation of the animals?”

Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) has been skating around their role in the control of the controversial Manzou Farm.

Government has said the First Lady’s farm would be controlled by Zimparks, which was supposed to release animals including the big five last week.

Approached by the Daily News to clarify how they were going to undertake the takeover and release animals given that there were villagers adjacent to the farm, Zimparks has been skating around the issue without anyone at the parastatal willing to give the correct position.

Caroline Washaya-Moyo, Zimparks public relations officer, directed the Daily News to Godfreys Matipano, the acting director conservation, who refused to comment on the issue, referring the paper back to Washaya-Moyo.

“I am not the spokesperson, talk to our public relations officer,” Matipano said.

But Washaya-Moyo still failed to answer questions posed to her, questions which included how Zimparks was going to protect people as well as how they envisaged stopping the animals from being hunted down.

In the past weeks, heavily armed police descended on Manzou Farm, indiscriminately and arbitrarily demolishing homes, slashing crops and setting on fire personal belongings of the villagers.

But High Court Judge Erica Ndewere had on Monday last week granted a provisional order stopping the evictions if no alternative places of residence were availed by the state.

A chorus of condemnation to the callous removals, including the displacement of children from their school, as well as the wanton destruction of crops and property, had fallen on deaf ears.

At the time, minister of State for Provincial Affairs for Mashonaland Central, Martin Dinha, along with Zanu PF, denied vehemently that the first family was in any way involved in the evictions, arguing falsely and rather self-servingly that Grace was a “philanthropist” who would never destroy people’s livelihoods.

However, in a sudden about-turn last week, Dinha confirmed that Grace had applied for a licence to run an animal sanctuary and had been duly awarded the vast and fertile farm bordering her other multi-million business and farming interests in the area.

The minister added that elephants and lions were going to be moved onto the farm, but he did not say how much this project of moving animals to the farm and repairing infrastructure such as the fencing would cost, and whether Grace would pay for all this.

Rodriguez said government should first consult ecologists to determine whether the ecology at the farm was suitable for the wild animals.

I need the cliff note version of all this.

I am guessing the Zim gov took farm from whites and gave to blacks and is now taking it from the local blacks and giving to Mugabe's wife to put game on to be hunted and she pockets the cash.

Correct?

http://www.news24.com/Africa/Z...k-gets-game-20150122


Grace's park gets game
2015-01-22 16:39

Harare - Villagers in Zimbabwe are taking legal action after animals were released on a farm they are living on, which the president's wife Grace Mugabe reportedly wants to turn into a game park.

Children from Manzou Estate in central Mazowe district were too afraid to go to school after nearly 100 zebras were brought to the farm this week on the back of large trucks, lawyer Tonderai Bhatasara said on Thursday.

"They [the zebras] are now causing children to abandon school. Kids are afraid to go to school because they met a herd of zebras and they had to run for dear life," Bhatasara, of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) told Sapa.

"We have consulted with our clients and we have received instructions for us to act on that new development."

Villagers say the zebras are being herded by rangers because no fence had been erected yet.

"They are basically herding them like cattle herders," Bhatasara said.

Last week, the ZLHR won a high court order barring police from evicting the villagers. Some of them had lived on the farm for 15 years.

Elephants next

Police had already allegedly burned some houses there.

President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party initially denied that Grace Mugabe had anything to do with the evictions, saying the farm was a national heritage site.

Grace Mugabe reportedly told a rally in the district last year that she wanted to take over a nearby conservancy. The Mugabes are still on their end-of-year holiday and not in Zimbabwe at the moment.

Zimbabwe's National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said a day after the court order was granted 12 January, that they intended to move wild animals, including lions, buffalo, leopard, elephant, and rhino, onto the farm.

"At least there's no evidence on the ground of those other animals, but the clients confirm there are plans to bring in some elephants soon and some lions soon as well," Bhatasara said.

"So we are taking this seriously, and we're on it."

- SAPA

An AP report on this was in the Dallas Morning News today. At least word is being spread, but the article was fairly benign.

quote:

Originally posted by Duckear:
I need the cliff note version of all this.

I am guessing the Zim gov took farm from whites and gave to blacks and is now taking it from the local blacks and giving to Mugabe's wife to put game on to be hunted and she pockets the cash.

Correct?

More or less.

The bigger thief is taking it from the smaller thief who took it from its rightful owners.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201501231535.html


Zimbabwe: Parks to Cough Up U.S.$1 Million for Grace's Animal Sanctuary

By Hazel Ndebele


AS part of security measures to make it suitable for habitation by the "big five" animals, the cash-strapped Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority would have to fork out at least US$1 million to fence Manzou Estate in Mazowe, where First Lady Grace Mugabe is setting up a private wildlife sanctuary.

This comes after Environment, Water and Climate minister Saviour Kasukuwere last week said that the National Parks had taken control of Manzou farm, formerly known as Arnold Farm, and would soon be translocating the "big five" animals from other sanctuaries to Mugabe's private game park.

Kasukuwere said the authority would soon be bringing the big five (elephants, lions, rhinos, leopards and buffaloes) to Manzou, despite a High Court order stopping the evictions of more than 200 families in the area.

Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF) chairperson Johnny Rodrigues this week said the big five needed high security fencing, which would cost at least US$1 million per 2 000 hectares.

Manzou farm, where 200 families were evicted to make way for the private game park, is estimated to cover over 1 800 hectares.

Rodrigues said two layers of fence would be required for the area to accommodate the big five.

This would put a further strain on the parks authority, which was allocated US$4 539 450 in the 2015 budget.

"Double fencing is needed for such dangerous animals and there has to be three metres in between the fences, with the other being electrified," he said.

"What I can tell you is it's very expensive to acquire the fence as it is not ordinary fencing; about 16 lines of wire would be needed from top to bottom although it is still possible for the big five to tear the fence," Rodrigues said, adding that this would pose a great danger to villagers in the surrounding area.

He questioned where National Parks would get funding to undertake such a huge operation as they are already struggling.

"It doesn't make sense that National Parks has been failing to pay workers but they want to fence a private wildlife sanctuary; where are they going to get the money from?"

In addition to the financial crunch, the authority faces transport, fuel and staffing problems. Contacted for comment, National Parks spokesperson Caroline Washaya-Moyo asked for questions to be e-mailed to her, but had not responded by the time of going to print.

Rodrigues said Manzou farm is not fit for the big five as Mazowe is highly populated by people meaning such animals could pose serious danger to humans.

"Government should consult ecologists to get advice on which animals are fit for such a place. Animals such as impala, kudu and zebra would be more suitable as they are less harmful."

One of the villagers facing eviction at Manzou farm, Aspinas Makufa said they have been living in the open and life is more difficult due to the incessant rains.

Makufa also said National Parks had on Tuesday brought zebras which have been destroying their crops.

"The National Parks brought zebras on Tuesday and they have been destroying our crops and even if we are not evicted, we would not harvest anything," said Makufa.

On Tuesday, police joined the National Parks team which has been camped at the farm since last week. The police, like the parks authority officers, pitched tents close to where the villagers are staying in plastic shacks.

"Takangoona mapurisa auya musi weTuesday and vakaisa matents avo (police came on Tuesday and pitched their tents). Hapana zvavarikutaura, takangotarisana navo (They are not saying or doing much)," said Makufa.

Police demolished properties at Manzou a fortnight ago despite a court order last year. The demolitions only stopped last week on Monday after the High Court granted a provisional order barring the evictions as directed by last year's court order.