The farm chickens come home to roost

A surprising development in the continuing land-grab

Following my exclusive on the renewed invasion and take-over of white-owned farms, I hear news of an ironic twist in this torturous tale - one which, for anyone who knows the truth behind Zimbabwe's so-called land reform, will bring a rueful smile to the lips. To put it succinctly, here is a case of the invader...invaded!

Back in the time when white farms were falling to Zanu-PF's so-called War Veterans at a regular rate, a female war veteran named Rejoice Sibanda-Ncube was not backward in coming forward. She targeted - and obtained - Redwood Farm in Nyamandlovu, Matabeleland North.

The farm was originally owned and run by white farmer Alex Goosen. He had to go, driven out by machete-waving Zanu-PF militia men, and Rejoice took over. No doubt rejoicing. But not any more. This week she was forced to flee, in the face of machetes wielded by...guess who? Yes, more Zanu-PF militia men.

More than 30 youths descended on Redwood Farm. They were led, I'm told, by a noted torturer, Ngwiza Ncube, leader of the war veterans in Nyamandlovu, and by Ngwenya, the Zanu-PF chairman for the area. Their main complaint against Rejoice appears to be that she refused to provide them with free food.

Rejoice told me by phone: "They arrived wielding machetes and sticks, as if they were going to attack ten people. But there was just me and my three children, who were wailing with fright. The men told me I was a sell-out, and I deserved to die. I had to run for my life."

When the militia left, she returned to the farm, to discover that the property had been looted, with machinery and bags of maize taken.

For  a final ironic twist to the story, try this. Having won her farm with violence, and now having lost it with violence, Rejoice is trying to get it back, by claiming it on legal grounds.

Some might say that, in seeking justice through the courts, Rejoice is just a little late.

Comments

[macon]

Irony? Poetic justice? Selective reasoning? Perhaps "all of the above".

Lay down with the dogs, arise with fleas. Such is the plight of the evil ones. Why can I find no sympathy within my heart for those who profit from wickedness and harm to others. It's a truth that crime has its own rewards, and justice, like time, is inevitable.

When the whole of Zimbabwe is teetering on the brink of desperate anarchy, can isolated incidents such as this soon become the norm? When those who forced their way upon the civilized and with violence took anything of value, they then become the only ones with relative wealth. It stands to reason they themselves would now become the targets of those who know only violence.

Further reasoning says the cycle could continue until no one has anything and everyone has nothing, and in spite of vast natural resources, the once-proud Zimbabwe crumbles in abject poverty, and wallows in its own filthy waste.

Thank you Rejoice and Robert and Thabo, and those godless who've cheered you on... quite a legacy you'll leave... and when the dung beetles burrow into your rotting bodies and your souls scream from Hell, who will benefit from your Swiss bank accounts and obsession for power and "final control". Then justice will be served.

[Michael]

We've always known that Zimbabwe has been run by hypocrites and fools since it first regained that name. And now we see the evidence that these alleged war veterans are turning on their own ..... looting and wrecking even the now limited production capabilities of the remaining farms that can produce anything at all.

Mugabe's regime is not one of leadership, it is one of strip mining the people, and the only result that could possibly come of him remaining is the death-by-suicide of Zimbabwe itself.

Of course, according to Uncle Bob, that will be the fault of the west as usual ..... and that is the whole problem, he has a convenient scapegoat to blame his incompetence, mismanagement and criminal fraud on. While he is allowed to do this Zimbabwe will travel ever further down the road to destruction, finally either giving up one last gasp as it dies or erupting into a full scale war (which Bob will probably say was fuelled by the west).

I do feel pity for Rejoice in this case, but not pity that she has lost 'her' farm or that she was driven out by the same grade of thugs and murderers that she used to get it in the first place ..... the pity I feel for her is that she has been so blinded by the ZANLA party line that she didn't see it coming. I don't believe she's the first and I most certainly don't believe she's the last ..... there's an old saying about what happens to those who live by the sword, and Rejoice has found out in a way exactly what it means.

[Mpofu]

ZANU (P eople F ailure)have struck again.

[Dino]

'Natural Justice' is a much overlooked concept but very very sweet!