Residents of Warwick Shire farm located in the Lake Chivero area of Norton in Mashonaland West are up in arms against purported land barons who want to forcibly grab the land portions they were legitimately allocated by a trust after the land was gazetted during the land reform programme in 2000.
The residents, mainly ex-workers at the farm, are at loggerheads with land developers linked to businessman Nick Nyandoro.
Some of the former workers say they have been living on the land for some decades but are now being threatened with eviction.
“The impending sub-division of the farm will disrupt our livelihoods and so far, some of the residents have been arrested for protesting against the impending illegal sub-division of the farm,” said Matinyenya.
At the centre of the controversy is a mooted development of a lakeside housing development by the purported owner Nick Nyandoro who insists that he bought the farm from Johnson in 2003.
“Ironically, the farm was gazetted in the year 2000,” said Matinyenya.
“As residents, we are now pleading for inclusion and leniency in the looming restructuring as eviction looms, “ said an elderly resident who has been living at the farm for the past three decades.
Meanwhile, the residents said they are now in pursuit of a lasting solution to the ongoing land dispute and have since appealed to the responsible authorities to intervene immediately.
