Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe

FROM THE INFORMATION DEPARTMENT OF RESTORATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ZIMBABWE (ROHR) 

Carse Farm
50 families are facing eviction from Carse farm, 20 km from Bindura. Ruston Ngandu who took over Carse farm wants the 50 families off the farm as he deems that their presence is disturbing his farming activities.

Magistrate Chakanyuka heard the case at the Bindura magistrate courts on 28th September and deferred ruling to 9th October. The 50 families, whose lives are hanging by the line and face the likelihood of becoming destitute if evicted, are being represented by Human Rights Defenders Lawyers Bonongwe and Partners.

Douglas Ruwihi spoke with ROHR Zimbabwe and believes that their eviction case is politically motivated as Ruston Ngandu is punishing them for being supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change. Mr. Ruwihi told ROHR Zimbabwe that since 2002 when the farm was taken from a Robert Kascoe, they have been going through hell. Their homes were burnt during the infamous Operation Murambatsvina in 2002 and they have been experiencing a series of intimidation and attacks aimed at frustrating them to leave the place that they have known as home throughout their entire lives. ‘Our lives will be destroyed if the court rules in favour of Ngandu. We have lived here all our lives and we have nowhere to go. ‘Our fathers came from Malawi and Mozambique’ said Douglas Ruwihi.

Margaret Mukunga from the same group said they have resorted to sleeping in the graveyard at night as a way of escaping victimization by their new farm occupier. Their roofless houses are no longer safe for human inhabiting as they are exposed to cold and mosquitoes at night. She expressed fears of contracting malaria from mosquito bites. Margaret Mukunga told ROHR Zimbabwe that over 200 children at the farm are not going to school as the parents are finding it hard to source income; the only little money they are getting is going towards the payment of legal fees. So far they have paid a total of US$1900 legal fees through selling maize, brewing and selling beer.

Foothills Farm
Meanwhile, Magistrate Chakanyuka is also expected to deliver a ruling today in a case in which former mayor of Bindura Webster Bepura is seeking the ouster of 26 families from Foothills farm, 15 km from Bindura along Matepatepa road. The 26 families are being represented by Bonongwe and partners under the Human Rights Defenders program which is aimed at providing legal assistance for the vulnerable citizens who find themselves unable to defend their constitutional and fundamental human rights.

Speaking on behalf of the 26 families, Luckmore Langton says hell broke loose when they participated in the 2008 harmonized elections as voting agents for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Since then they have been targeted in a crack down on supporters of the MDC. Langton has lived at Foothills farm since 1986 and he accuses the former mayor of Bindura, Webster Bepura of destroying their homes, property, livelihoods and barring them from carrying out small scale gardens on the farm which are their sole source of income. He bemoans the life that they are now living compared to how they lived before the farm was taken away from David Bailey in 2002.

He says they used to afford school fees and transport to send their children to school 11km away but now they can only struggle to send the children as far as grade seven from their US$10 monthly earning. There is no water and electricity at the nearby school and clinic which leaves high fears of a cholera outbreak looming.

Mean while, a war veteran, Jacob Chiripanyanga is also evicting Lazarus Marunga, Lainos Zakeo, Gift Mhembere and Fanuel Musona. This follows an incident this month in which the four were assaulted and had their homes destroyed when they were attached by a group of ZANU PF youth in the company of Jacob Chiripanyanga.

ROHR Zimbabwe’s Position on the eviction of farm workers
We note with grave concern that the plight of farm workers in the hands of the new farm settlers has gone unnoticed by both the inclusive government and the law enforcement authorities.  Farm workers throughout the country have suffered immense human rights violations ranging from denial of the right to a decent shelter, food, state protection, clean water, right to education and right to decent standards of living under the continued farm invasions.

It is deplorable that the new farm settlers have resorted to illegal systematic violent intimidation campaigns that are aimed at frustrating farm workers and forcing them away from their homes. For the eviction battles to end up in the courts, the farm workers would have shown unyielding resistance to the illegal eviction often characterized by inhuman and degrading frustrating tendencies.

The acts of impunity against farm workers have mainly been instigated on political grounds by ZANU PF supporters and youth militia as punishment to those deemed to be affiliated to the MDC in the form of organized violence, destruction of property and livelihoods.

AS ROHR Zimbabwe, it is our position that farm workers, like any other citizens of Zimbabwe, have inalienable fundamental human rights inherent to the human fraternity from birth as guaranteed under the Zimbabwean Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Bill of Rights and the African Charter on People’s Rights and Freedoms.

ROHR Zimbabwe calls upon the Ministry of Home Affairs to urgently launch an investigation in the handling and welfare of farm workers on all farms where there has been transition from one owner to the other. The core ministers of the home affairs ministry Kembo Mohadi and Giles Mutsekwa should discourage the police from assuming partisan roles and stick to ethical and professional standards when handling cases that are politically motivated and involving the eviction of vulnerable farm workers.

In the understanding what the national healing seeks to achieve, it is our view that the ongoing victimization of farm workers is an anathema to finding a lasting peace among communities that are still smarting from the painful legacy of March-June 2008. The three political parties under the coalition government should therefore take heed of the agreements they made under the Global Political Agreement, that is, to guarantee the rule of law, respect for human rights and establishing a conducive environment that allows a democratic society to thrive – where people freely expressing their views, associate and engage in political activities without fear of persecution.

The coalition government should also make genuine efforts to dismantle the infrastructure of organized violence which is still in tack throughout rural Zimbabwe’s ten provinces. It is our considered view that people will not open up to an independent constitution making process and to the national healing exercise under the prevailing politically charged environment, given the violence that characterised last year’s  bloody election in which more than 200 people were killed. The Inclusive Government has a duty to and can STOP the suffering and lawlessness.