'Obert Mpofu can't be evicted'

LAWYERS representing Zanu-PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu have claimed that their client cannot be evicted from Esidakeni Farm in Nyamandlovu, Matabeleland North province, because he was not occupying the contested portion of the property.

Mpofu has been involved in a bitter fight for control of Esidakani Farm. Human rights defender Siphosami Malunga and his associates Charles Moyo and Zephania Dhlamini are also claiming ownership of the same property and the legal wrangle has dragged on in the courts for some time.

Malunga and his partners were arrested last week and charged with unlawful occupation of the property.

Malunga, Moyo and Dhlamini are expected back in court on September 6, 2022 after they were granted $10 000 bail each.

The courts ruled that the trio could not move into Esidakeni Farm before Mpofu's eviction.

On Wednesday, reports emerged that Mpofu had been issued with an eviction notice by the deputy sheriff, but his lawyers Ndove and Associates said the top Zanu-PF official was never in occupation of the contested portion of the land.

"It is our view, therefore, that the writ of ejectment that yours seeks to issue is not enforceable against ours given that the ejectment that yours seeks is from a property that ours was never, and have never been in occupation of," Mpofu's lawyers wrote.

"Perhaps it would be expedient, on yours' behalf, to secure an appropriate order should they desire to enforce a writ of ejectment against ours from the piece of land that they currently occupy."

Malunga and his co-partners have claimed that they bought the 553-hectare dairy farm in 2017 from white former commercial farmers through Kesherlmar Farms (Private) Limited.

Lands and Agriculture minister Anxious Masuku issued a notice for acquisition of the farm in December 2020.