JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE - FARM SITUATIONS COMMUNIQUE

Dated 25th June 2009

1. KARORI FARM UPDATE

The soldiers from the Zimbabwe National army have remained on the farm since March. Under instruction from Brigadier Mujaji they stopped all farm operations for five weeks including maize reaping and tobacco grading. Three Lorries were sent to the farm to try and load maize for delivery to the Jesuit ProvincialFood Programme who contracted the crop, however all the lorries were denied access and sent back.

The Police have refused to intervene or uphold any of our Court orders and Charles Lock was told by the DISPOL that the Police had been instructed by police general headquarters not to render assistance.

Lock then took the matter to Court again and got a spoliation order against Mujaji and his soldiers. They were to be removed by the Deputy Sheriff forthwith. This is really just a duplication of existing Court Orders. In his replying affidavit the Brigadier denied many of the accusations against him including the fact that there was a writ for his arrest. He even said Lock no longer lived on the farm and had no workers there.

Lock actually went to the farm with the German Ambassodor and witnessed the shut down , the presence of soldiers, and the lorry being turned back empty.

The messenger of Court was sent on Friday to effect the eviction, but Mujaji stopped it and returned all the soldiers and then attempted to have the farm workers themselves removed. The Police did nothing to assist.

As it stands now there are no operations on the farm, clearly Mujaji is desperate to reap what he has not sown and the Police support this initiative.

In the meantime there is an attempt by the Attorney general to charge Lock's wife for being on the land unlawfully. This is quite unbelievable as Lock has already been acquitted and can never be charged again. He owns the crops and equipment and farms the land.

The State now wants to charge his wife .This indicates the extent to which the law has collapsed in Zimbabwe. Imagine a person being charged for murder for example and he is tried and found not guilty, so instead they now charge his wife for the crime in an effort to rectify the first failed attempt even though she has nothing to do with it.

It is quite unbelievable that the Prime Minister down plays these issues as exaggerations. He flies around asking for money when the crops Lock has produced legally are being stolen by the National Army. It appears the GNU has no intention of dealing with any hot issue even though they are at the root cause of our problems in this country.