Mnangagwa asked to stop conservancy plunder

The government has been accused of ignoring pleas to stop the destruction of a Beitbridge conservancy by illegal settlers despite assurances by Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa that the matter would be addressed.

Mananje Conservancy, owned by former civil servant Ian Ferguson, was invaded in 2013, but, the number of settlers started surging recently in defiance to a string of court orders.

Ferguson first met Mnangagwa last year and the Ministry of Lands was ordered to investigate the illegal settlements.

However, the farmer wrote to the vice-president last month saying the ministry had done nothing to address the problems and the situation had since gotten out of hand.

"I regret to inform you that in spite of the very good meeting we had with yourself and the lands minister [Douglas Mombeshora] in November 2015, there has been absolutely no action taken by the Ministry of Lands to rectify the situation on the wildlife conservation farm in the Beitbridge district," reads part of the letter seen by The Standard.

"You might recall that the subject of the meeting was in regard to our extreme concerns with the distressing destruction of a wildlife conservation farm in the Beitbridge district.

"Further, that the situation on the ground was as a direct result of the illegal behaviour of the district lands officer, in total contempt of High Court orders , ejectment orders, and the government's laid down 'wildlife land-based policy.'"

He said despite undertakings by Mombeshora to rein in his staff in Beitbridge, nothing had changed.

"To the contrary, and in spite of the Honourable minister of Lands' undertaking at the meeting, now eight months ago, the district lands officer has been settling more people and livestock on the conservancy, and is still doing so at the present time," Ferguson wrote.

"Disturbingly, this would indicate that the Ministry of Lands' head office has not instructed the district and provincial lands officers to stop settling people on the property.

"One can only assume that there is an agenda, firstly, to leave the people that invaded the property in 2013 on the property, and flood the property with as many people and livestock as possible, as that is exactly what they are doing.

"The situation on the ground is now many times worse than it was eight months ago, and it would seem that the Ministry of Lands officers are hell-bent on the total destruction of the property, which has a very fragile and sensitive ecosystem being situated in a semi desert climate, that it is."

Ferguson said he had been trying to meet Mombeshora for the past two months without success.

He requested for another meeting with Mnangagwa, adding "the judicial services, the Sheriff's office and the police have been extremely partisan in dealing with the whole situation on the conservancy."