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Police Invade Harare Farm 13th January 2006 POLICE officers have reportedly expropriated Gletwyn Farm, a private property worth US$ 10 million in the Greater Harare area, and are currently subdividing it into residential stands for high-rankings officers. Gletwyn Farm's owner, Alexander Ross, said the police descended on the 225-hectare property situated 14 kilometres east of Harare on December 13, claiming it had been acquired for Police Heights Housing Co-operative to develop residential stands for the force's senior officers. No compensation has been discussed between the police and the farm owners. Ross said the farm has been subdivided into 600 stands ranging from 1,900 to 2,000 square-metres, displacing more than 200 people initially renting houses or working at the farm. This week police trucks were moving people from the farm to unspecified locations. A contractor has already started opening roads as a way of servicing residential stands. The farm sits in a prime residential area between Mandara and Glen Lorne. Documents to hand say the farm was incorporated into the city of Harare in 1996 and the owner made preparations to sub-divide it for urban development. The work initially done was to prepare a local subject plan for the whole area, to be followed by the creation of a subdivision plan for the land. The subdivision plan was in the process of being submitted to the Harare city council in 2000, which coincided with the start of the land reform programme. Local Government minister Ignatious Chombo then made a statement that no peri-urban land should be sub-divided, the documents say. War veterans moved onto the farm in late 2000 and numerous disruptions to farming activities occurred although for the most part the Ross family maintained control of the property. The documents show that last April, an instruction was given by the Ministry of Local Government that no crops should be planted on the farm as the land was required for a housing project. On October 17th heavy earthmoving machinery was moved onto the property to open up primitive roads on all arable areas of the farm, ruining much of the potato crop in the ground. The invasion has forced the multi-billion dollar farming project to close down. Gletwyn Farm was producing seed maize, potatoes, soya beans and a range of fresh vegetables. Members of the Police Heights Housing Cooperative are expected to meet at the farm today (Friday). The documents say on December 13 Harare governor David Karimanzira and high ranking police officials told the Ross family to leave the property immediately because it was being taken over by the police. Ross said later that day more police officers arrived at the property, pitched tents and took over the main property's security control gate. "The police also located themselves on the property's operational centre, and even in the garden of my brother's house," Ross said, adding: "The following day (December 14) many more police cadres arrived on the property and effectively shut it down. Thereafter many people residing on the farm were denied entry or the right to leave the property to go to work or to do their normal business." Augustine
Mukaro - The Zimbabwe Independent |