The full story behind Maleme ranch

Vusumuzi Dube Sunday News Reporter
EMBARKING on the 70 km journey, one can’t help but marvel at the majestic balancing rocks, the wildlife running freely on the side of the road, and the beautiful round huts dotted around the area. One feature that one can never miss is the jovial villagers either at the growth point-like shops located on the side of the road or walking along the road; women balancing water buckets and men herding cattle.

Passing two road blocks, the traffic officers all co-operative and wishing us a nice journey, it then boggles the mind why such a small, obviously happy community has for the last couple of weeks been a topical matter in the country’s media.

This is the small village of Natisa located in the Matobo district just a few kilometres from Kezi.
Mention this village, two words immediately come to mind — Maleme Ranch — a farm which has been the focal point of the country’s media. Farm owner Mr David Cunningham was reportedly given a notice of acquisition and was ordered to vacate the farm, which was initially reduced by two thirds during the land acquisition in 2000, and make way for Mr Rodney Mashingaidze.

The acquisition led to a bitter wrangle between villagers who said the farm was benefiting the community and Mr Mashingaidze.
The wrangle sucked in traditional leaders from the area who also spoke out against the farm takeover, forcing Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko to intervene and reverse the decision to allocate the farm.

One would have expected the community surrounding the farm to celebrate the takeover, but for the Natisa community this has not been the case. In fact, the community celebrated the reversal of the acquisition.

The community together with traditional leaders in the area surprisingly stood on the side of the owner of the farm, and went on to petition Government to reverse the acquisition.

Even the Christian community in Matabeleland has stood up to appeal against the gazetting of this contentious farm mainly basing from the fact that the farm also has a camp site that is usually used by church organisations. Accusations have been peddled with some accusing those siding with the white owner of being bribed into supporting him, others accusing Government of not being sincere in gazetting the farm as the community was benefiting from it.

The traditional leadership has also been vehemently warned for siding with the community, with the war veterans leadership warning the chiefs from interfering with a Government process.

So with the popularity this farm has gained over a short space of time, Sunday News visited the Natisa area and also took a tour of the farm to get some insight on what really has been taking place at the farm which made the community take the unexpected position of opposing the gazetting of this farm.

When our news crew got to Shalom campsite, they found the gate locked and the only way to access the farm was jumping over a small fence with the assistance of a few farm workers who were milling around the farm. Some of the property at the site includes a big chapel, dining area, smaller church and dormitories. The workers also took this reporter to some chicken runs which they claimed were operated by the community through the assistance of Mr Cunningham.

Also part of this ranch is an agricultural college where students are taught on business management and farming. The college has an enrolment of 80 students.

With over 125 000 chickens, 23-year-old Mr Honest Matawire said this was the only form of livelihood they knew of and taking the farm would mean that over 100 households would be faced with starvation.

He said besides the chicken breeding project within the farm itself, Mr Cunningham together with his Christian friends had helped the households establish their own chicken businesses within their own homesteads where they were provided with materials to build chicken runs, day-old chicks, feed and various inputs after which they keep the profit when the chickens are sold.

“I came here in 2007 to stay with my aunt. I enrolled at the college at around about the same period, and after completing the two-year course I then requested to continue at the farm, assisting in teaching new students and embarking on the community project.

“In 2010 I started working with the chicken farmers in the community, independent of the farm and today I am working with 80 villagers all being supported by Mr Cunningham. We have over 125 000 birds all being raised by the community. What happens is that Mr Cunningham provides the feeders, fence, drinkers and the startup chicks, when the villagers sell the first lot they then use the profit to continue breeding their own chicken,” said Mr Matawire.

He said the chicken business was keeping the community going as they now had a sense of livelihood, hence taking the farm would mean a number of families would have no means of making a living.

“This project is operational not only here is Natisa but also in Silozwi, actually the entire ward 16. I know some people want to claim that just a few people are benefiting but I would invite anyone to take a tour of the ward and you will see for yourself that every household has a unique chicken run, which is the one that we are taught to construct.

“We are not saying that the Government is wrong in distributing land to the blacks but we believe in such cases where that white person is empowering the community there should be some sort of exception. Yes they can take the ranch but why not leave the part that is operational because that part is the one which is literally being run by the community,” said Mr Matawire.

Besides the chicken breeding project, the villagers also revealed that they were actively involved in farming projects within the ranch where each villager or student is allocated a piece of land where they practise techniques they were taught at the agriculture college.

“For those who are not active at the farm they buy things like tomatoes for as little as $5 a crate for A-grade tomatoes. My brother, this farm is our life; when they close it today I tell you this community will be destroyed.

“Worse still, we are talking at a time when our crops are wilting because of the unreliable rains. If the Government really has our interest at heart, they will honestly relook at this issue,” said one Mr Ndlovu.

Sunday News also spoke to 46-year-old Mr Yemen Mkandla and his wife, 51-year-old Ms Ketty Mpofu, who are running a successful chicken breeding business in Natisa.They revealed that they had been in the business since 2011.

“Right now we have 2 101 chickens which we expect to sell anytime soon. What happened is that when we started we did the rearing and when the chickens were eventually sold the profit was ours, and we went on to start our own business.

“However, up to now Mr Cunningham continues to support us in the sense that whenever we want feed he buys for us and he markets our chicken for us, all for no cost at all,” said Ms Mpofu.

Another villager, Mr Mollen Malungu, who was feeding his chickens, said theirs was not a battle, as was being said in some sections of the media but they were simply requesting that Government allows them to continue operating the part of the farm where they were running their projects.
“To say that this farm is run by Mr Cunningham is wrong because it is us the villagers who are running most of the operations. The chicken business is ours, the produce is ours and the agriculture college is benefiting our own children. Just imagine what will happen if all these close down.

“We wish that instead of taking us as being rebellious, Government officials can simply come and tour the village to see how this farm has become a part of us,” said Mr Malungu.

Sunday News also managed to contact Chief Nyangazonke Ndiweni, one of the chiefs who had been at the forefront in challenging the acquisition of the farm and he emphasised that theirs was not a war against Government policy but they were simply appealing for the section where the community was running their projects to be spared.

“This issue has been taken in the wrong light by most people. We are not against the land reform but we are saying if Mr Mashingaidze is to be given a portion why isn’t he given some barren land instead of the very portion where villagers are doing their projects,” said Chief Ndiweni.

However, War Veterans chairperson for Matobo district Cde John Dube sang a different tune saying the white farmer was using a few villagers to hoodwink Government and prevent the farm from being allocated.

“All these purported projects that are being talked about are benefiting just a select few not the entire area. It is not true that this white man is working with the community he is just using the select few to mislead people into believing that he is part of the community.

“Even these chiefs who are intervening in this issue don’t even know what they are talking about. I personally believe this is just a tribal matter, they are simply opposing on the grounds that this Mr Mashingaidze is not from Matabeleland, which I feel is just being too trivial,” said Cde Dube.