Court orders CIO official off flower farm

A SUSPECTED Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) official who early this month invaded a horticulture farm near Goromonzi, threatening the jobs of more than 150 workers, has been ordered to vacate the farm forthwith.

Harare High Court judge Justice Nicholas Mathonsi ordered the eviction of Timothy Muyambo alongside James Chiyangwa, R Kituli, Tendai Bonga and the police officers that had been assigned to guard "The Glebe" Farm, also known as Little Flower Farm, after evicting managing director Mathew Hopgood.

Through his lawyer Norman Mugiya, Hopgood approached the High Court on an urgent basis, arguing Muyambo and his colleagues had violated his constitutional rights.

In his founding affidavit, Hopgood said: "I am advised that no person is allowed to take the law into his own hands or resort to self-help of the law. To make matters worse, they evicted me and my family, but refused us to take our property such that we do not even have clothes to change on our persons. It is really sad and unbelievable.

Meanwhile, Mashonaland East Provincial Minister of State Joel Biggie Matiza claimed the horticulture farm was gazetted in 2001.

In an interview with NewsDay before the High Court ruling, Matiza could, however, not recall who had been allocated the farm.