Some 62 MDC supporters at Nyagundi Resttlement have been left homeless after their homes were burnt down by Zanu PF supporters.
The Zanu PF supporters were led by Darlington Fungurani who claimed that the MDC supporters had settled on his land.
But villagers said that the Provincial Lands committee allocated five hectares to each family at Nyagundi resettlement. However, Fungurani claims that 17 hectares of land within the Nyagundu, 35 hectares resettlement belongs to him. After heated arguments last Wednesday, Fungurani is alleged to have torched the activists’ homesteads as a way of forcing them to vacate his land.
One of the affected villagers, Enoch Mugumbate said that he had lost property worth over $500 as well as cement, maize seed and fertiliser.
“Last Sunday I was not home and my wife was at a funeral. My child was alone at home and told to me that some men asked him for my whereabouts. The child did not where I was. A few moments later some villagers approached me and told me that my garden was on fire,” said Mugumbate.
“We rushed to the garden and as we approached, I realised that my house was on fire as well. We recognised Fungurani and two of the other three men seen at my homestead, these men were Average Fungurani and Patrick Machacha. Unfortunately it was too late to put the fire out,” he said.
“Some youths came to my place and accused me of occupying someone else’s land and then torched and destroyed my property,” another villager Simon Charles told this reporter.
The villagers reported the various incidents to the Odzi Police station and although some officers came to view the scene, they have done nothing except tell the villagers that they would get back to them.
The villagers did win a court order in Mutare that barred Fungurani from evicting any families from the area.
Contacted for comment Fungurani said he was not the person who torched the homes.
“I do not know about that. I am not the one who torched their houses. In fact these people are the ones that torched their own houses in order to fix me and make an issue out of it,” said Fungurani.
He did admit to burning their gardens: “I only burnt their gardens because I was preparing my fields and got some villagers to help me. I have witnesses to prove this. The land belongs to me and I have the right to remove these families from my land,” said Fungurani.
A police officer at Odzi who attended the scene commented as follows: “This is political. We are too junior to comment on such issue. We will wait to hear from our superiors on what action to take.”
Police spokesperson, Luxon Chananda was not available for comment. – The Zimbabwean