State security team evicts war veterans from farm

Senior government officials supported by a crack security team last Thursday evicted war veterans settled on Dollar Block Farm who were threatening to build a multi-million dollar ostrich egg hatchery in Matebeleland North province, ‘The Daily News’ reported on Monday. The move came ahead of a visit to the farm by the Indonesian minister of agriculture, Bungaran Saragih.

The eviction followed repeated threats of violence against the Dollar Block farmer and his workers. The farm is owned by an Indonesian firm which signed an agreement with the government in February 1997. Investors reportedly threatened to pull out if the government failed to remove the settlers from the property.
Construction equipment is already in the country for the first phase of the hatchery with a capacity of handling 48,000 eggs a day. Cahyadi Kumala, who is based in Indonesia, wrote to his partner in Zimbabwe, Peter Cunningham, last week threatening to withdraw from the project.

Livingstone Mashengele, the Matabeleland North provincial administrator, and other top government officials who are part of a land redistribution committee, visited the farm this week to reassure the investors the government was still committed to the 1997 agreement.
Dollar Bubi (Pvt) Ltd acquired the farms in 1997 from the government, but they were listed under the government’s land acquisition programme. The farms were however delisted in March following an appeal. A team of State security officers and war veterans, understood to be led by an unidentified senior Air Force of Zimbabwe official, and a police assistant commissioner are said to be part of the delegation that descended on the farm to order the invaders out, according to the report.