Villagers up in arms with self-imposed leaders

VILLAGERS of Woodlands Farm in Hwange district are up in arms with a woman and her son who allegedly imposed themselves as leaders of a community hunting consortium after unseating a board elected by villagers.

Woodlands Farm is made up of 118 villagers who benefited from the land reform programme under the A1 scheme.

The villagers who formed Words of Advice Trading Private Limited are surviving on proceeds from hunting quotas.

The row between the villagers spilled to the courts where Judith Maphosa (57), of Plot 109, is being charged with fraud after allegedly enticing other villagers to pass a vote of no confidence in the board led by Themba Nyathi.

Bulawayo magistrate, Crispen Mberewere, remanded her to 12 March.

She is denying going to the Deeds Office in Bulawayo on 5 June last year to alter the composition of the Nyathi-led board, replacing it with one led by her Namibia-based son, Tendai Musasa.

According to court documents, Maphosa presented to the Deeds Office minutes of an unsanctioned meeting, claiming 85 villagers had signed a petition against Nyathi, John Sinaga, Mary Nyoni and Dennis Nkomo.

Nyathi, who is the complainant, told the court the meeting had not been procedurally convened as it was not organised by the district administrator, Tapera Mugoriya, who was appointed curator by the then Matabeleland North Governor Cde Sithokozile Mathuthu.

Prosecutors say some of the villagers did not know what they were signing for when they signed the petition.

Maphosa, now the secretary and spokesperson of the contentious board, does not have an offer letter for a plot in Woodlands but claims she has a power of attorney on behalf of her son in Namibia.

The new board includes her son Musasa, who is principal director, Imagine Chikotsi, Morgan Dube, Christopher Tenson Dadani, Kenny Lenyon Lunga, Josphat Phiri, Rosemary Ndlovu-Ncube and Sibusiso Mpofu.

In her defence, Maphosa said villagers were not happy that the board had not availed audited books for two years, claiming Nyathi took advantage of the fact that most of them were illiterate. She concurs with Nyathi that the Governor set up a curatorship committee which was to be functional for six months.

Words of Advice Trading was formed as a co-operative but later changed into a company.

Maphosa also admitted that at some point she was advised at the Deeds Office that it was not a co-operative but a company and withdrew an application that she had made to dissolve its board.

"I am not a plot holder but am simply looking after my son's plot. I attended meetings on his behalf because he gave me power of attorney to participate in meetings. Several meetings were held and on May 26, last year, 85 villagers agreed to remove the board and asked me if I could facilitate issues of their company," Maphosa told the court.

Nyathi said Maphosa did not have authority of villagers.

He said they were shocked when Maphosa terminated a running hunting contract between the villagers and Profound Investments on 7 June.

"We don't know who elected her and her son as there were about 60 villagers only. We were mandated by the people and she is removing us improperly," Nyathi said.

Sinaga and Nyoni concurred that they were shocked to find that Maphosa had altered their company's registration papers without the blessing of a proper meeting and inquired from villagers, most of whom confessed they did not know what the meeting was about and later reported the matter to the police.

It was recently reported that Chief Mvuthu, in whose jurisdiction the farm falls, suspended four of his headmen over allegations of corruptly accepting a loan of $184 000 from a hunter.

The four headmen, Josephat Sipulila, Charles Mpofu, Margret Mzamba and Sikandi Moyo, were reportedly served with letters of suspension amid claims that the letters were written by Maphosa and her new board.