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Mr Peter Cloete, a cattle farmer in Ward 21 in Kezi, has for the past 12 years been fighting with the resettled farmers despite having ceded portions of his three farms in Dope, Woodlands and Vergenoeg, to the new farmers.
The resettled farmers are accusing Mr Cloete of impounding their cattle each time they stray into his paddocks. They say he also shoots and kills their donkeys and dogs.
Mr Cloete was represented by his son, Dylan Sebastian at Chief Nyangazonke’s community court.
Also summoned to the same court was the village head of Dope, Mr Zete Ndlovu, and the new farmers in Woodlands and Vergenoeg.
Village heads from Ward 21 and the chairman of the ward anti-crime committee, Mr Msongelwa Moyo from Dope village and police officers attended the court, while Mr Ndlovu and villagers from his area defaulted.
Chief Nyangazonke said he had summoned the warring parties because of the reports that they were failing to co-exist.
He said at some point he asked Mr Ndlovu to organise a meeting between his subjects and Mr Cloete with a view to resolving their differences but that meeting never took place.
The chief said the farmers were partly to blame for the challenges they were now facing because they brought cattle from other areas despite the fact that they had limited pastures. This, he said, had resulted in overgrazing and their cattle were now straying into Mr Cloete’s pastures.
“We are not here to judge who should leave the area or stay but I am worried about the relationship between the two parties. The matter is in court and we cannot talk about who is rightfully on that land.
“The court and the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement would decide on that because it is a Government programme. What we want today is to hear the problems you are facing in your area because there are many reports that are reaching me,” said Chief Nyangazonke.
Mr Moyo, in his testimony, told the court that problems started when Mr Cloete reportedly refused to surrender all the paddocks allocated to resettled farmers by the Government, leaving them with access to only two.
He said other villagers now regarded him as a sellout because he had refused to contribute towards legal expenses when the village head and other villagers were dragged to court for cutting Mr Cloete’s fence last year.
“A lot is happening in Dope, the problem being that Mr Cloete has 12 paddocks while villagers use three. Right now people have no grazing land, which is why they are fighting. The people there are also divided and I cannot say much because already I am viewed as a sellout and they do not update me on anything in the village,” said Mr Moyo.
He told the court that fellow villagers had at some point chased him away when he had been assigned by the chief in the company of another village head from Woodlands.
“The war has been going on and we feel the lands committee has failed to solve the impasse. Mr Cloete told me that people were cutting the fence and at one point I also caught some men cutting it from one of the paddocks. What I gathered was that they had been sent by other villagers,” said Mr Moyo.
The chief’s court was told that some villagers reportedly told Mr Cloete’s domestic workers that they would continue cutting the fence.
It was alleged that the people in Dope were divided over the issue with the village head reportedly saying he had no problems with the farmer while his subjects wanted the farmer to leave the area.
Mr Cloete produced a map of his farms showing farm boundaries but Chief Nyangazonke said only the lands ministry officials could confirm the boundaries.
The farmer told the court that Dope Farm had 11 paddocks and two dams and had advised villagers not to graze their cattle in all the paddocks at one time but to rotate the grazing to avoid a situation whereby pastures run out.
“When the farm was redistributed, I was given authority by the Government to use a portion of the farm. It is not that I am asking for anyone to be evicted,” he said.
Mr Cloete said he was willing to co-exist with the villagers but they were not cooperating. He said the new farmers were vandalising water pumps and fence despite the fact that he was assisting them.
“I have been pumping water for them for the past 12 years without demanding payment. Not a single person has ever assisted with fuel or spare parts. Early this year, I suggested that since there is drought, I will build a water reservoir using my own resources to take us through the year and asked them to spare only two paddocks out of the 11, for rotational grazing since it is a drought period but they would not agree.
“I engaged Mr Ndlovu but he said he would not make a decision on behalf of his subjects and we agreed to have a meeting but when the meeting failed they said uCloete uyadelela. My suggestion was that we preserve paddock four because it has a dam, which we should keep so that we have water throughout the year. If we allow cattle in, it would dry up and all our cattle would die. My appeal is that they should stop cutting the fence because stock thieves will take advantage of that,” said Mr Cloete.
One of his domestic workers testified that cattle were missing after a portion of the fence was cut.
He said at some point, they found a villager uprooting a gate leading into one of the paddocks but nothing was done to him.
Chief Nyangazonke said people should realise that even if Mr Cloete left the farm, the fence would remain State property and whoever would be caught destroying it would be prosecuted.
On the allegations that the police were not doing anything about the people who were being handed to them for vandalising the property, the chief said he would engage the officer in charge of Kezi Police Station over the issue.
He adjourned the court and said he would proceed by way of summons and would want Mr Ndlovu, officials from the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement and the councillor for the area, Councillor Vincent Siziba, to give their side of the story.
The other village heads said Mr Moyo, as the chairperson of the anti-crime committee, had the power to summon anyone and should therefore use his powers.
Online Reporter