News / National
Police burn down houses
09 Oct 2013 at 10:51hrs | Views
One of the burnt huts - image from Daily News
Hundreds of families in Banket, Mashonaland West were left homeless after police allegedly set their houses on fire yesterday, claiming they were illegal settlers.
The families have been pushed into a desperate situation as police claimed they were illegally settled on a farm owned by a senior police officer.
The top cop is reportedly stationed in Chinhoyi.
Although the families claim they were resettled at the farm located in Mapinga near Banket just before the July 31 harmonised elections, the situation changed soon after the elections as they were ordered to vacate the property.
Mapinga falls under Zvimba North constituency.
the distraught families said they were surprised yesterday when a group of vicious and heavily armed policemen descended on their village and ordered them to take out their properties before they set over a thousand huts on fire.
The police officers, reportedly armed to the teeth, set on fire the pole and dagga huts that had been built.
Charity Charamba, the chief police spokesperson, said she was unaware of the police-led torching as she was off-duty while her two deputies Paul Nyathi and Andrew Phiri's mobile phones were unreachable.
The villagers said police used high-handed tactics to raze down their properties, and shot at one hut after the owner had resisted taking his property out.
The families have been pushed into a desperate situation as police claimed they were illegally settled on a farm owned by a senior police officer.
The top cop is reportedly stationed in Chinhoyi.
Although the families claim they were resettled at the farm located in Mapinga near Banket just before the July 31 harmonised elections, the situation changed soon after the elections as they were ordered to vacate the property.
Mapinga falls under Zvimba North constituency.
the distraught families said they were surprised yesterday when a group of vicious and heavily armed policemen descended on their village and ordered them to take out their properties before they set over a thousand huts on fire.
The police officers, reportedly armed to the teeth, set on fire the pole and dagga huts that had been built.
Charity Charamba, the chief police spokesperson, said she was unaware of the police-led torching as she was off-duty while her two deputies Paul Nyathi and Andrew Phiri's mobile phones were unreachable.
The villagers said police used high-handed tactics to raze down their properties, and shot at one hut after the owner had resisted taking his property out.
Source - dailynews
