GOVERNMENT has engaged the army to assist police in evicting land barons who are targeting farms, creating illegal settlements across the country.
This emerged in Parliament last Thursday when Murewa South lawmaker Noah Mangondo complained about the sprouting of illegal settlements on A1 and A2 farms.
“My question is: What is being done by government to make sure that the issue of illegal settlements ends because all these government departments that are there are failing to resolve this issue?” Mangondo asked.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development minister Anxious Masuka urged affected farmers to report the invaders to law enforcement agencies.
“If you go to the Lands office requesting them to come and evict the person who has settled on a farm unlawfully, you are approaching the wrong office. It is the duty of the police department to sue those illegal settlers. Hence, there is a need for people to go and report to the police that there are people who are illegally settling themselves so that police officers go and arrest them,” Masuka said.
“The land inspectorate section is another department which is under the Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development ministry that is there to make sure that the job is being done properly.
“We have seen that most people threaten lands officers when they visit their farms.”
Masuka said the army had been called in to assist the police to evict land invaders.
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“We have four groups working in the Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development ministry. We have also engaged the Zimbabwe National Army, Air Force, ZRP, the President’s Department and Prisons to have a joint operation command to help the honourable minister to make sure that the lands officer is able to reach the place where the illegal settlers are settled,” the Lands minister said.
Masuka said illegal settlements on farms were in violation of the Communal Lands Act.
“Persons who illegally settle themselves are breaching the law and they must be arrested,” he said.
“We have now engaged the Surveyor-General to mark boundaries.
“The Zimbabwe Lands Commission, which is working as an independent commission, has a responsibility of making sure that there is harmony and peace, they act as negotiators in dispute resolution on the issue of boundaries on these farms.”
The country’s land reform exercise, which started in 2000, has not found closure, with reports of evictions and land invasions taking place across the country.
