MDC source denies that land invader is Tsvangirai relative

By Violet Gonda
8 June 2009

Recently Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said land invasions were ‘blown out of proportion’ and that the ‘so-called farm invasions were ‘isolated incidents’. There was an outcry from the farming community with white commercial farmers saying the number of violent invasions had actually increased since the formation of the inclusive government. This has resulted in thousands of farm workers losing their jobs and more than 100 farmers being hauled before the courts.

Many of the new occupiers have been members of the ruling elite, but on Monday the website ZWNews alleged that a ‘niece’ of the Prime Minister was attempting to grab a commercial farm in Chegutu, Mashonaland West.

Dr. Arikana Chihombori, the ‘mystery woman’ who was seen with the Prime Minister at South African President Jacob Zuma’s inauguration last month, is reported to be actively trying to seize De Rus Farm from Mr L J Cremer. At the time of the discussions around who it was who had been seen with Tsvangirai, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement identifying the woman as his niece.

We were not able to reach the Cremers or Dr Chihombori, but Justice for Agriculture (JAG) spokesperson John Worsely Worswick said feedback he received from the farmer was that he was very alarmed to find someone with an American accent looking to taking over his property “and they took issue with the American embassy to try and trace her origins and establish exactly who she was.”

The JAG spokesperson said: “The feedback that came to the Cremers was to the effect that this was the same woman who attended the inauguration with Tsvangirai and that the ambassador had taken Tsvangirai to task about who this woman was and that he had denied any knowledge of her. Now that is very alarming.”

But MDC sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the woman who was seen with the Prime Minister at the Zuma inauguration, and who is now trying to invade the Chegutu farm, is not related to Tsvangirai. We were not able to get a comment from the Prime Minister’s office. Related or not there is photographic evidence of her attendance at the Zuma inauguration with Tsvangirai.

ZWNEWS reported: “Mr Cremer was first contacted in November 2008 by the local Lands Officer, who produced an offer letter dated August 2007 showing that De Rus farm had been allocated to Dr Chihombori. In January this year, Dr Chihombori’s sister sent a group of unemployed youths to take the farm, but the occupation only lasted three days, after which the youths left, complaining of not being paid enough. In April Dr Chihombori applied to the courts for an application to evict the Cremer family, producing the same offer letter as evidence, this time dated December 2008.”

It’s reported Dr. Chihombori is an American citizen who was born in Chivhu but has lived in the United States for the last 30 years. The doctor practices family medicine in Antioch, Tennessee.

The Cremers said in a statement: “It is very obvious that this acquisition is not about land reform. Here we have a small productive farm being taken from Zimbabweans and given to someone who resides in America. It is about greed, people stealing our homes, land, jobs and livelihood and hiding behind politics.”

“How can this government ask for food aid while they are busy removing food producers from their farms? How can they justify the unemployment rate while they are removing 300 people from employment under the guise of Land Reform? Our workers, many of them also born on this farm, are very worried about their futures as they have seen the workers on the surrounding farms which have been ‘acquired’, starve or have to resort to theft to survive.”

The Cremers’ property had already been downsized from about 700ha to 70ha for resettlement. It is reported the largest part of the farm taken over for resettlement is lying idle and is in total disuse. Cut flowers are grown for export as well as vegetables for the local market. Furthermore, the part of the farm now under dispute was granted Export Processing Zone status and later turned into an Investment License, which gives legal protection against seizure by the state.