Hundreds of ‘distraught’ villagers across the country are resisting unjust eviction from their ancestral land, which the State accuses them of illegally occupying, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) has said.
ZLHR is representing the distressed villagers, some of whom have lived on that land for over 40 years and made renovations, while others have been given a week to vacate by the courts.
This also comes as the government said it is taking decisive action against illegal land settlements on State agricultural land, putting a concentrated effort to apprehend and prosecute land barons.
Recently, Ministers of Local Government and Public Works; Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development and Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, released statements claiming their operation is not intended to punish citizens but to make sure people follow proper procedures in acquiring State land.
ZLHR said it has dispatched its representatives to assist communities who have been accused of illegally occupying the land they have established themselves for years.
“In Chipinge in Manicaland Province, ZLHR lawyer Tariro Tazvitya is representing 327 villagers, who reside in Mahachi Village and are accused of illegally occupying Mahachi village. “Of the 327 villagers, 80 of them reside in Munyokowere village and are accused of illegally occupying Munyokowere village,” said ZLHR in a statement.
ZLHR said it also was assisting villagers in Masvingo Province, where they filed an appeal at Masvingo Magistrates Court seeking to suspend an order for the eviction of some villagers from their ancestral land.
“The villagers were recently convicted of occupying gazetted land without lawful authority as defined in Section 3(1) of the Gazetted Land (Consequential Provisions) Act by Masvingo Magistrate Ivy Jawona and sentenced to serve three months in prison, which was wholly suspended,” said the organisation.
In that case, the Masvingo Magistrate ordered the villagers to vacate their land within seven days.
“The villagers, who are represented by Phillip Shumba of ZLHR, have asked the Masvingo Magistrates Court to stay their eviction pending the determination of their appeal against both conviction and sentence by the Masvingo High Court,” said ZLHR.
The villagers filed the appeal at Masvingo High Court on February 9, 2024, challenging their conviction and sentence by Magistrate Jawona, according to the organisation.
“In the appeal, the villagers argue that Magistrate Jawona erred and misdirected herself in convicting and sentencing the villagers for illegally occupying gazetted land as some of them have been in occupation of their land for more than 40 years and had effected tremendous improvements to their land,” ZLHR said.
ZLHR noted the concerned villagers want the High Court to overturn their conviction and set aside their sentence and refer their matter to the Constitutional Court for a determination of the constitutionality of their eviction.
