MASVINGO - War veterans at Chikore Farm in the southern town of Masvingo are demanding Z$142 billion in compensation from a Zimbabwe government minister whom they accuse of harvesting where he did not sow.
The war veterans are accusing Stan Mudenge, who is the Minister of Higher Education, of forcibly harvesting and selling their tomato crop at the farm which has been the subject of a bitter ownership dispute between the former liberation war fighters and the minister.
In a letter of demand to Mudenge, a copy of which was seen by ZimOnline yesterday, the war veterans say they will institute legal action against Mudenge if he fails to pay within seven days. ...
"I do not own any other farm. Chikore Farm belongs to me and anyone intending to take it from me is like a person intending to take away my wife," said the minister. The war veterans invaded Chikore Farm in 2003 in what was a fresh round of farm invasions against the few remaining white farmers following the violent farm seizures that began in 2000. Last year, State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa who is also in charge of land reform, ordered the former fighters to move out of the property to pave way for Mudenge. The war veterans are however resisting the move demanding compensation for their loss. Several government ministers and influential members of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party have been accused in the past of using their powerful positions to push out black villagers who occupied farms after the ouster white farmers after 2000. The government ministers have in most cases forcibly taken and sold unharvested crops on the properties without compensating the previous owners. - ZimOnline
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