A war veteran facing eviction from a piece of land he occupied for 20 years is among hordes of beneficiaries of the land reform programme that have been hit hard by grand corruption involving government officials in Mashonaland East province’s Seke district,.
Bernard Masendeke, popularly known as Shumba, has been occupying Sub Division 1, Dover Farm in Seke district since 2005, but now faces an uncertain future after the courts served him with eviction orders in a move allegedly orchestrated by a syndicate within the Lands ministry.
Masendeke was recently arraigned before the magistrate courts in Chivhu for illegally occupying the piece of land in Beatrice and ordered to vacate the farm which he has been occupying for more than two decades, to pave way for one Edmore Kurwara, who was “corruptly” allocated the farm, investigations carried by Truth Diggers have revealed.
Truth Diggers is the investigative journalism unit for Alpha Media Holdings.
The month-long investigation included observations and undercover interviews with neighbouring farmers.
Traditional and community leaders as well as government officials also confirmed that corruption and underhand dealings were rampant in land reallocations in the district, resulting in ordinary farmers losing their land to rich and politically-linked people from cities such as Harare.
Masendeke has approached Zanu PF officials in the district and several government offices including the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) for intervention, but with little success.
He is now worried that the deadline to vacate the piece of land is fast approaching.
“I was told to leave this place by the courts, but l have been occupying this farm for 20 years,”
“It has been my home and I have nowhere else to go.”
Investigations carried by Truth Diggers showed that Sub Division 1 Dover Farm, a 101-hectare piece of land as well as Sub Division 4 Dover Farm, an 80-hectare piece of land were among nine sub-divisions being underutilised on several farms in Seke district.
This followed an assessment that was conducted by the Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement ministry in early 2022 meant to scout land for possible productive farmers.
The assessment team was led by the security department in the ministry led by Colonel Mureswerwa and Brigadier General Masunungure, investigations revealed.
In response, Lands minister Anxious Masuka ordered that Sub Division 1 Dover Farm was to be downsized with Masendeke occupying 20 hectares while the other part was to be allocated to a senior member of the Central Intelligence Officer (name withheld) and members of the Medical and Dental Private Practitioners of Zimbabwe Association (MDPPZA) who had applied for land through the Office of the President in 2021.
However, Masuka recommended that a technical team from his ministry be sent to Dover Farm before the “new” occupants arrived.
“It’s now three years and the technical team is yet to visit Dover Farm as was recommended by the minister,” said a source within the ministry.
“It’s a calculated move meant to delay the process while underhand dealings are happening over Dover Farm.
“Money has changed hands already and there is a new occupant at Sub Division 1 who allegedly paid lots of money to some officers in the Lands ministry.”
The source said Kurwara allegedly forked out between US$60 000 and US$80 000 to get the 101 hectare farm.
For close to three years, Seke district resettlement officer Clara Makumbe working in cahoots with Lands officers at the provincial office and headquarters, especially in the offices that offer letters have been dragging their feet in implementing President Emmerson Mnangagwa's directive.
“Shumba has a few days left on that farm because some people did not implement what the minister and the president ordered them to do,” said the source.
“There is a lot of corruption at the Seke district office where some people are undermining the authority of the president and minister.”
Several farmers at Nebo, New Heaven and Belchin farm in the district also face an uncertain future after they were served with eviction orders, Truth Diggers established.
Government is yet to honour its September 2021 promise to offer land to medical practitioners in private practice across the country’s 10 provinces.
The practitioners had written to Mnangagwa requesting land who agreed and directed provincial lands officers through their respective Provincial Affairs ministries to offer the land.
Truth Diggers established that authorities never entertained doctors’ request for land despite them being armed with letters from the Office of the President and Cabinet.
Meanwhile, Masendeke has since approached Zacc over the conduct of the land officers.
In a letter to Zacc, accompanied by an affidavit, Masendeke quoted Kurwara as saying: “I Edmore Kurwara say by the statement below (1) ‘move away from my plot of which I have stayed for 20 years, (2) Sub-Division 1 of Dover Farm belongs to me [and] (3) I have brought people to build my house’.”
“All the above happened in February 2024. They later came with lands officers namely Mrs Makumbe [District Lands Officer from Seke] and the other officer whom I know facially [sic]. “These two officers told me to vacate the plot.
“We later visited the lands offices in Makoni area, Seke. We were attended to outside the offices by Mrs Makumbe, who openly told us to leave the plot and told us the plot was allocated to E Kurwara by the minister of Lands.
“Our local leadership visited the HQ, Makombe and were told that the minister had approved the replanning and that the new plan should accommodate us.
“From our thinking, this is corruption at its highest level by government officers.”
Zacc is yet to respond to Masendeke.
Zacc’s communication and media liaison manager Simiso Mlevu could not be reached by this newspaper for comment.
However, the anti-graft board chairperson Michael Reza last Wednesday warned traditional leaders against the illegal parcelling out of land.
Seke district is among peri-urban communities riddled with illegal land deals facilitated mainly by traditional leaders and now popularly known as “Sabhuku deals”.
Mashonaland East provincial lands officer Clifford Mukoyi said Mashonaland East Provincial Affairs and Devolution minister Apollonia Munzverengwi was the only one allowed to comment on land issues in the province.
“The minister is the only one mandated to comment on land issues,” Mukoyi said.
“You can talk to her.”
Munzverengwi could not be reached for comment yesterday.
However, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development permanent secretary Obert Jiri conceded that land corruption involving personnel in the ministry was rampant.
“We have so many cases of that nature,” Jiri said.
“Just Google and you will see that just recently a police officer and an Agritex officer were arrested.
“When we receive grievances we refer them to the inspectorate [a department made up of police and army personnel], who will investigate before the law takes its course.
“We also work with Zacc in fighting land corruption.
“You can talk to Zacc and they will tell you how we are collectively working to curb corruption.”
According to Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer, the land sector exhibits one of the highest bribery rates among public services, affecting one in five people globally.
Zimbabwe embarked on a chaotic land redistribution exercise at the turn of the millennium after war veterans and Zanu PF supporters started invading white owned farms.
Subsequent land audits revealed that government officials and other politically connected people allocated themselves more than one farm.
At the beginning of this year, the government started evicting some of the beneficiaries saying they were not illegally settled.
The evictions, which targeted ordinary citizens leaving out the land barons mostly linked to Zanu PF, were suspended following a public outcry.