adminLeonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
CHIEF Nelukoba of Binga allegedly lost a safari farm allocated to him under the country’s land reform exercise to another beneficiary. The 2,170-hectare piece of land is located near Dete and has reportedly been given to Dawn Properties who run Hwange Safari Lodge on the neighbouring farm.
A distraught Chief Nelukoba said he spent more than $5,000 on renovations at the farm.
The controversial property, Number 41, Khatshana Farm also known as Railway Line Farm, specialises in hunting and photography.
“I was allocated the farm in November 2013 and this was approved by the province. I was given an offer letter signed by the Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement.
“There was no water and electricity which I connected. I’m shocked now to hear that the farm doesn’t belong to me,” he said.
The offer letter shown to The Chronicle reads in part:
“We have offered you the whole of Farm 41 in Hwange District Matabeleland North for agricultural purposes. The land is approximately 2,170ha and is offered in terms of the Agricultural Land Resettlement Act Chapter 20:01.”
Chief Nelukoba said at some stage he was told to vacate the farm as it was a corridor for animals but the matter was quickly resolved. His area of jurisdiction covers parts of Hwange and Binga districts.
The chief said when elephants were poisoned by poachers using cyanide in 2013, he employed an anti-poaching team of close to 10 men to guard the farm and was paying them.
“I hear they’re leasing out the farm. I wonder how they did that when I’ve the offer letter. This shows there’s something going on in the allocation of land. If the land really belonged to Dawn Properties, why was I given the offer letter?” said the chief.
Chief Nelukoba now wants to seek audience with President Mugabe over the issue.
“I’ve submitted letters of complaint to the President’s Office, the Minister of State (Cain Mathema), District Administrator’s Office and the lands office.
“I want to meet the President and tell him about this because I don’t understand why I would have an offer letter and somebody has Title Deeds for the same piece of land.”
Directors of Dawn Properties could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The acting chief lands officer for the province Possent Nkiwane said the farm was wrongly allocated to Chief Nelukoba.
“It’s not true that the farm is being taken away from Chief Nelukoba. We had given him as a province but unfortunately the farm has Title Deeds which indicate that it belongs to Hwange Safari Lodge. There was a misunderstanding as we believed that it was State land yet it was privately owned,” he said.
The acting provincial lands officer acknowledged that the chief had developed the farm. He said they were in the process of looking for another piece of land as a replacement.
Dawn Properties owns another farm nearby, Railway Farm 39.
Online Reporter