High court throw settlers life-line

Hundreds of families evicted last month from a farm outside the Zimbabwean capital Harare, occupied under the land reform programme in 2000, have been granted a reprieve. High Court Judge Rita Makarau ruled in favour of Percy Masendu and 429 other settlers who had filed an urgent court application to have their eviction nullified. Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi and police commissioner Augustine Chihuri were cited as the first and second respondents. In a similar case, Justice Ben Hlatshwayo also ruled in favour of 370 farmers facing eviction in Mashonaland West province. Last month the government started evicting settlers from Little England Farm, occupied in 2000. Their homes were razed and they were forced to camp along a highway. The official reason given was that the settlers were occupying land earmarked for large-scale farming. Critics say the small-scale farmers are being moved out to make way for senior politicians and members of the military, a charge denied by the government. Makarau ordered that "the applicants, and all those claiming through them, be allowed to continue staying at Little England Farm until such time as they are properly resettled or evicted by an order of a competent court. The respondents, or any person acting through them or on their behalf, be interdicted from interfering with applicants' occupation of Little England Farm by unlawfully evicting them or destroying their dwellings." When IRIN visited the farm on Saturday, the farmers who had been camping on the highway were returning to their razed homes. Brian Zindi, one of those returning to the farm, said although they were excited by the court order, the evictions had traumatised them and depleted their resources. "We now need to look for resources to build new houses, and that will be a very costly exercise. Out of desperation, we had sold some of our cattle, goats and sheep. Our children were preparing to write end-of-year course examinations, but what we now face is a small ... crisis," he told IRIN. Zindi said they would now require food aid, as they had sold most of the grains they harvested this year. "Most settlers were selling their goods in order to raise enough money to transport their families and belongings to their [home] areas."