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Mazowe villagers win US$30k demolition compensation

Local News
The villagers through their lawyer, Idirashe Chikomba from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) later filed a court application at the Bindura Civil Court seeking compensation for loss of property.

BY METHEMBE SIBANDA POLICE in Mazowe have been ordered to pay US$30 000 compensation to villagers whose homes were destroyed at Arnold Farm to allow for the expansion of the late former President Robert Mugabe’s business empire. The order was granted last week at the Bindura Civil Court.

Police in March 2017 forcibly evicted the villagers from the farm to allegedly pave way for the establishment of a national monument and to allow former First Lady Grace Mugabe to expand her business venture in Mazowe.

The villagers through their lawyer, Idirashe Chikomba from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) later filed a court application at the Bindura Civil Court seeking compensation for loss of property.

“During trial, Chikomba argued that in destroying the homesteads and evicting villagers, ZRP officers violated the villagers’ fundamental rights including their right to property, guaranteed under section 71 of the Constitution and their right to freedom from arbitrary eviction provided under Section 74 of the Constitution,” the ZLHR said in a statement yesterday.

“Chikomba argued that the malicious damage to the villagers’ property was in violation of Section 219 of the Constitution, which provides that the country’s Police Service is responsible for protecting and securing the lives and property of people and upholding the Constitution.

“The human rights lawyer also argued that together with their children, the villagers suffered great humiliation, shock, trauma as a result of the unlawful destruction of their homesteads and property and endured emotional suffering and physical hardship after being rendered homeless and left exposed to rain.”

In his ruling on Friday last week, Bindura magistrate Miriam Banda held the police liable for unlawful conduct in demolishing the villagers’ homesteads and property.

Banda awarded damages totalling US$30 864 to the victims with each villager expected to get varying amounts, the highest being US$2 000 and the lowest US$200.

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