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This comes at a time when the demand for pastures in the drought-prone Matabeleland South province has increased following the influx of livestock from other areas as farmers from around the province take their cattle to areas with favourable pastures.
In Zadope area, Ward 21, under Chief Nyangazonke, more than 20 households now reportedly have about 406 cattle, which are expected to feed on three paddocks that have already been overgrazed.
This has reportedly led to constant confrontation with the commercial farmer, Mr Peter Cloete, who the villagers accuse of penning their cattle and sometimes rounding up the cattle and driving them outside the farm boundaries.
For 12 years, resettled farmers in Zadope, Woodlands and Virginock farms and Mr Cloete have failed to co-exist as they accuse each other of sabotage.
The resettled farmers said they wanted Mr Cloete to let go of two paddocks he was keeping for his cattle.
In 2000, Mr Cloete reportedly ceded part of Zadope Farm to 23 families, while others occupied Woodlands and Virginock Farms.
However, the two parties have over the years clashed over the farms, with villagers accusing Mr Cloete of refusing to vacate the remaining part while Mr Cloete said the villagers were carelessly destroying their portions and now wanted to occupy his side.
The matter is in court and senior Bulawayo High Court Judge Justice Nicholas Ndou in March 2010 granted an interim relief in favour of the Cloete family.
Mr Peter Johannes Cloete, Mrs Catherine Handy Cloete, Mr Dylan Sebastian Cloete, Mr Duke Cloete and Ploughman Pvt Ltd had applied for an interim relief to the High Court, Case Number HC482/10 as first to fifth applicants respectively.
At least eight villagers were listed as respondents to the case.
“Pending determination of the matter, respondents are to immediately remove all their cattle and other livestock from the farm or not interfere with farming operations by the applicants or their workers. In the event the respondents fail to vacate, they would be evicted,” reads part of the interim relief judgment.
A Chronicle crew visited the area, about 20km off the Bulawayo-Kezi highway, on Monday and villagers who had gathered at the village head’s court narrated how they always clash with Mr Cloete.
They accused him of driving away their cattle and penning them at Malude Cattle Pens, far away from their village.
The meeting by the villagers was cut short when one of them received a phone call on his mobile phone that Mr Cloete’s domestic workers had rounded up some of the cattle.
“We have had trouble since 2000 when we settled here. Mr Cloete drives our cattle as far as Kezi Road and we have to look for them everyday. Sometimes he shoots our dogs and donkeys or detains people at his house. Recently he shot some donkeys in Woodlands for getting into his paddocks. We have been to different offices but without help,” said a villager.
The villagers alleged that Mr Cloete was refusing to release land allocated to them by the Government.
“It seems we occupied this area unconstitutionally. He always moves around with guns and threatens to shoot people. Maybe after talking to you he is going to victimise us more but we care no more because we have suffered enough,” said another villager.
“On Saturday he rounded up 85 cattle and we looked everywhere only to find them on Sunday afternoon in one of his pens,” another villager said.
Mr Dylan Cloete dismissed the allegations saying the villagers were failing to understand.
While the villagers alleged that Mr Cloete and his workers were taking pictures of them and fabricating that they were poachers, he said the pictures were evidence of his cattle that had been ensnared by villagers and the fence they had destroyed.
Narrating his ordeal from the farmhouse, Mr Cloete said he was a victim of blackmail by the resettled villagers despite the fact that he was the one sustaining their livestock in the area.
He denied ever driving away their cattle saying he always wanted to establish who the owners were.
“I have tried to engage them, but they would not understand. We have told them that they could use any other paddock as long as they do not put their cattle where ours would be. What we do not want is the cattle to mix because we are breeding cattle and we cannot have other breeds coming in,” said Mr Cloete.
“The problem is that they destroy the fence and I have told them to stop doing that but they don’t. If they say the farm is theirs, why destroy it? If it is mine why destroy, and also if they say it is State land, does the State want its property destroyed? Now they have brought more cattle from somewhere and that would leave us without enough pastures.”
Mr Cloete said he was willing to assist the villagers and had offered to construct a water reservoir for their cattle in one of the paddocks but they always drive them into his paddocks.
“Out of eleven paddocks I remained with two and they are using seven. I told them that we should not use the other two taking into account the state of the pastures this year so that they could be used later in the year as the other one has a dam which would silt if cattle are allowed in but they would not agree to that,” said Mr Cloete.
The development has reportedly strained relations between Chief Nyangazonke and his subjects in the Zadope area after village head Mr Zete Ndlovu was reportedly summoned twice to the chief’s court.
Mr Ndlovu could not comment on the issue saying he feared being disciplined.
Chief Nyangazonke confirmed in a telephone interview that he had summoned the village head saying he was trying to instil peace in the community.
The chief said he would summon all the fighting parties including representatives of the Provincial Lands Committee for their next meeting.
“It is true that I have summoned Mr Zete to remind him that as a village head he should ensure peace prevailed in the community. I told him that he should not take sides on the matter because there are too many unfounded stories emanating from the community,” said Chief Nyangazonke.
“If Mr Cloete is to leave the farm, it has to be through the law. These people are destroying the fence and there is a lot of poaching going on. I will call the villagers, village heads from the area and Mr Cloete to a meeting on Thursday next week to iron out the dispute.”
Online Reporter