Vacate farms now, illegal settlers told

Heather Charema Mashonaland West Correspondent
Government has demanded that all illegal settlers in Mashonaland West immediately vacate the land they are occupying and follow proper procedures of acquiring land. Speaking at a Provincial Coordinating Committee meeting over the weekend, Minister of State for Mashonaland West Province Cde Webster Shamu said Government would not tolerate illegal settlers regardless of their political affiliation.

“All those in illegal settlements should move out with immediate effect. If you want land you should go through the correct channel and follow the proper procedure in acquiring land,” he said. He said that the Government was not going to tolerate illegal settlers and nobody owned land without an offer letter.

“The Government will not tolerate illegal settlers, you do not just issue land to yourselves, the Government is ready to deal with all those who will be found on the wrong side of the law. Many of us are moving onto other people’s farms and are even building houses, the land becomes yours after you get an offer letter from the ministry, so I urge all those who do not have offer letters to acquire their own land from the ministry,” he said.

Last week, the Lands and Rural Development Minister Cde Douglas Mombeshora read the riot act to the youths who were invading farms, saying the Government was ready to deal with the illegal settlers.