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Herald Reporter
More than 20 families at Edinburg Farm in Beatrice were left homeless after their houses and property worth thousands of dollars was destroyed by unknown assailants last Wednesday night. The families are locked in a nasty land dispute with an A2 farmer, Mr Dananai Chikanya, who also claims ownership of the same farm.
When The Herald visited the farm on Thursday, there was chaos with the affected families accusing Mr Chikanya of instigating the attack.
One of the victims, Mr Henry Munetsi, said he lost three bicycles, 15 bags of maize and other valuables during the attack.
“We were resettled here, but Chikanya now wants to evict us claiming that he is now the owner of the farm,” he said.
“We are always harassed, but the police are not even helping matters because they are being bribed by Chikanya.”
Another victim, Mr Clever Chidziva, accused Mr Chikanya of wantonly destroying their property, claiming to be linked to Vice President Joice Mujuru and an army general.
“He says we cannot do anything to him because he is related to VP Mujuru,” he said.
“We are appealing to the responsible authorities to resolve the issue because it is getting out of hand.”
Mr Chidziva said most of the people at the farm went into hiding because of Mr Chikanya’s menacing tendencies. Others said they lost blankets, radios, solar lanterns and other properties during the attack.
Mr Chikanya said that he was the bona fide owner of the farm.
“The position is that if you want to be recognised as a farmer in commercial farming, you must have an offer letter, permit or resettlement lease,” he said.
“In my case, I have an offer letter dating back to 2008.”
Mr Chikanya said his rivals were illegal settlers, saying they were ordered by the court to vacate the farm.
He denied assaulting the settlers and said he was a law-abiding citizen. No comment could be obtained from the police.
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