Didymus Mutasa evicts new farmers for white crony

Minister of State for Presidential Affairs in the President's Office and Zanu-PF secretary for administration  Didymus Mutasa allegedly instigated the eviction of resettled black Zimbabweans to pave way for white former farmers in return for kickbacks.

 Mutasa is said to have facilitated Mr Peter Livadtakis return to Goede Hoop Estate - which stretches from Mazowe to Concession in Mashonaland Central - after it had been compulsorily acquired for resettlement by law.

Sources told The Sunday Mail that  Mutasa received 85 cattle and an undisclosed sum of money for his actions.

In a letter to Mr Livadtakis dated September 18, 2006,  Mutasa - who was then National Security, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement Minister - wrote; "Further to our previous conversations, this letter stands to confirm that you may continue all your agricultural activities on Goodhope Farm. If you require any other form of assistance please do not hesitate to contact me."

The letter resulted in the eviction of scores of new farmers resettled on the farm.  Mutasa was not available for comment up to late last night as his phone went unanswered.

Political analyst Mr Nelson Kutsiwa said  Mutasa was a hypocrite.

"These are the senior ministers whom President Mugabe kept saying he was aware they were working to sabotage the country's land reform programme by returning whites to the same farms that had been taken away and offered to the indigenous people.

"It also casts aspersions on  Mutasa's commitment to the liberation given that the struggle was fought to liberate the land from the clutches of the invaders and restore it to descendants of our forefathers who were the rightful owners of the land . . . Mutasa is showing that he does not deserve the support of the President nor the people."

Ironically,  Mutasa was this year quoted extolling the principle of land reform.

"Land reform did not come on a silver platter," remarked Mutasa in July this year, at a field day in Nyanga South constituency.