News / National
Mugabe's relatives attacked by farm invaders
01 Nov 2011 at 22:39hrs | Views
Daily News reports that President Robert Mugabe's cousin Chief Zvimba and 16 others are smarting from violent attacks by newly resettled farmers as the black on black war over farms intensifies.
Chief Zvimba, real name Stanley Urayayi Mhondoro, told the Daily News that he had gathered his relatives to help prepare his tobacco fields when the settlers launched the attack at Lion Kopje Farm in Banket last week.
"Eleven settlers and former farm workers and others mobilised from three nearby farms came to my farm and attacked my relatives that were working in the tobacco field," Chief Zvimba said.
The chief said the assailants were from Mushangwa, Gumbu and Enddose farms.
"They wanted to burn the tractor but they ended up not doing this. They attacked the tractor driver and farm workers with catapults, sticks, wire and open hands," the chief said, confirming he was a close relative of the president.
The relatives who had come to help the chief all sustained different degrees of injuries and were ferried to Chinhoyi hospital with the worst affected receiving 14 stitches on the head.
Chief Zvimba ruled out politics saying the issue was purely a fight for farm occupation.
He said four of the settlers were offered land at a farm 20kilometres from his farm at Montgomery but were reluctant to go.
Cases of blacks targeting fellow blacks for farm takeovers have further tainted Mugabe's often violent land reform programme, which was touted as an empowerment tool for landless blacks who received farms formerly owned by whites.
Recent farm violence has, however, not been limited to black-on-black land wars. Reports of farm attacks have been on the increase in farming areas such as Chegutu where farmer Bruce Campbell was attacked in March this
year.
Campbell struggled with a mob of farm invaders at his property.
In September, another white farmer Collin Ziestman was brutally murdered at his farm. His wife Tinka was also assaulted by unknown assailants.
Immediate past president of the Commercial Farmers Union Deon Theron said the violence on the farms mirrored the general atmosphere in the country.
"What has happened shows that there is no law and order. People are allowed to get away with breaking the law. It really shows that accountability isn't what it used to be because what we see today is that certain people are not being held responsible for their actions," Theron said.
Chief Zvimba, real name Stanley Urayayi Mhondoro, told the Daily News that he had gathered his relatives to help prepare his tobacco fields when the settlers launched the attack at Lion Kopje Farm in Banket last week.
"Eleven settlers and former farm workers and others mobilised from three nearby farms came to my farm and attacked my relatives that were working in the tobacco field," Chief Zvimba said.
The chief said the assailants were from Mushangwa, Gumbu and Enddose farms.
"They wanted to burn the tractor but they ended up not doing this. They attacked the tractor driver and farm workers with catapults, sticks, wire and open hands," the chief said, confirming he was a close relative of the president.
The relatives who had come to help the chief all sustained different degrees of injuries and were ferried to Chinhoyi hospital with the worst affected receiving 14 stitches on the head.
Chief Zvimba ruled out politics saying the issue was purely a fight for farm occupation.
He said four of the settlers were offered land at a farm 20kilometres from his farm at Montgomery but were reluctant to go.
Cases of blacks targeting fellow blacks for farm takeovers have further tainted Mugabe's often violent land reform programme, which was touted as an empowerment tool for landless blacks who received farms formerly owned by whites.
Recent farm violence has, however, not been limited to black-on-black land wars. Reports of farm attacks have been on the increase in farming areas such as Chegutu where farmer Bruce Campbell was attacked in March this
year.
Campbell struggled with a mob of farm invaders at his property.
In September, another white farmer Collin Ziestman was brutally murdered at his farm. His wife Tinka was also assaulted by unknown assailants.
Immediate past president of the Commercial Farmers Union Deon Theron said the violence on the farms mirrored the general atmosphere in the country.
"What has happened shows that there is no law and order. People are allowed to get away with breaking the law. It really shows that accountability isn't what it used to be because what we see today is that certain people are not being held responsible for their actions," Theron said.
Source - Daily News
