Gun-wielding Mangwana Ordered Me 'To Leave Peacefully', Says Farmer
Nick Ndavaningi Mangwana, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services reportedly brandished a gun before a defiant Chegutu farmer and ordered him to “leave peacefully”.
Mangwana received an offer letter for 102 hectares of land on Thorndike Farm near Chegutu where some 70 families have been living for the past six years and their applications are yet to be approved by the Lands office.
The farmers said Mangwana showed up at the 2 000-hectare property with an offer letter in January and ordered the families to harvest their crops and leave.
Ebenia Shava, one of the community members, told ZimLive.com that Mangwana, who was in the company of an aide confronted him this past Sunday and accused him of arrogance for refusing to be “evicted in a humane manner.”
Shava claimed that a revolver was visibly tucked into Mangwana’s shorts to frighten him. Shava said:
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Mangwana declared that I should leave the farm now because he wants to pursue his farming projects, I refused and told him I also have a claim on the land.
He then told me he applied for the land in 2013 and said if I do not leave, he would resort to state machinery to evict me. He said the law and the system are on his side.”
I asked Mangwana if we were at war for him to bring a gun to discuss the farm wrangle. He did not respond, but went on and put the gun in his silver [Toyota] Land Cruiser [vehicle].
I think Mangwana deliberately exposed the gun for me to see as a show of power, which I cannot match.
Shava further claimed that as he left the farm, Mangwana warned that he will send bulldozers to raze down everything to the ground if he continued to resist his eviction threats.
