Grace Mugabe under fire

Anger against First Lady Grace Mugabe's land grabs in Mazowe is growing, with opposition parties uniting in their condemnation of her callous eviction of poor families from Manzou Farm to expand her sprawling business empire in the area.

This is despite stuttering attempts by Mashonaland Central minister of State, Martin Dinha, at the weekend to justify and absolve Grace of any culpability in the illegal evictions - claiming that the families were squatters.

Heavily-armed police descended on the farm in Mashonaland Central last week, demolishing dozens of houses to pave way for Grace - a multiple farm owner already - who wants to set up a game park, notwithstanding a court order barring law enforcement agents from removing the subsistence farmers.

Spokesperson of the mainstream MDC, Obert Gutu, accused Grace yesterday of being inhumane in the way she was evicting the families from the farm.

"Grace Mugabe has unlawfully and selfishly taken over the entire Mazowe valley, which is one of the most fertile farming areas in Zimbabwe.

"Poor peasants have been treated in a very inhumane and degrading manner by Grace Mugabe who is corruptly abusing State power by disobeying a lawful order issued by the High Court," Gutu said.

He urged the police to respect the High Court order issued last year, outlawing the demolitions.

Nhlanhla Dube, spokesperson of the Welshman Ncube MDC, said the demolitions were contemptible.