BULAWAYO – Zanu PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu has vacated a Nyamandlovu farm he occupied in November last year after suffering Supreme Court humiliation.
Mpofu and his wife, Sikhanyisiwe, seized the prized Esidakeni Estate after forcing out the owners, including the prominent human rights advocate Siphosami Malunga.
The Supreme Court ruled on July 11 that Mpofu’s “brazen invasion” was illegal, and the Esidakeni owners’ lawyers gave him up to three days to vacate the property or risk being driven out by the messenger of court.
Malunga, the son of independence war hero Sydney Malunga, said on Thursday: “We’re back on the farm. We will now take stock of the loss and damage. The rule of law must always prevail.”
After grabbing the 554-hectare farm, arguing that he had been allocated 145 hectares of it by the lands minister, Mpofu planted a maize crop – but it failed to produce a yield, apparently due to excessive water and neglect.
After taking occupation of the farm, Mpofu deployed armed guards at the gate and blocked access by Malunga and his partners Charles Moyo and Zephaniah Dhlamini, the latter a well-known scientist from the National University of Science and Technology.
The former mines minister’s brother, Mbonisi, was the resident occupier of the farm until the Supreme Court ruling that Mpofu had resorted to “self-help” when he grabbed the farm.
The court victory only restores Malunga, Moyo and Dhlamini to the former dairy farm while they challenge the lands minister’s decision to parcel out the farm to Mpofu and other connected individuals, including at least two Central Intelligence Organisation agents.
Malunga and partners, who bought the farm in 2017 from its former white land owners, are challenging the compulsory acquisition of the farm by the government and the matter is pending at the High Court.
The case is being watched closely as it has implications on black land owners whose land holdings – it was long accepted due to constitutional provisions – should be safe from arbitrary government takeover.
Mpofu could still face a damages lawsuit from Malunga and his partners after they were forced to abandon ripening butternut and tomato plants.
