Timothy Tivoro, a 76-year-old war veteran, is no stranger to displacement.
In 1999, Tivoro was moved from his original home in the Sanyati district to make way for a dam construction under a presidential scheme.
He was resettled on a modest six-hectare plot at Easterlea Farm, where he spent nearly two decades as a farmer.
But in 2018, the peace of his retirement was shattered by a discovery that should have been a blessing: he found gold.
What followed has been described by Tivoro as a campaign led by “greedy” individuals to force him off his land.
The ex-combatant now finds himself in a high-stakes legal battle to protect his plot, known as Plot Number 1, Village A.
The conflict began shortly after the gold was discovered and Tivoro was issued a special mining grant.
To assist with the transition from agriculture to mining, Tivoro hired Lawrence Kazungu for manual labor.
- Gold discovery sparks bitter land dispute
Keep Reading
According to the veteran, his employee soon conspired with corrupt elements within the government to seize the claim.
“The person I had employed tried to change everything because of my age,” Tivoro alleged. “He connived with some officials from the Ministry of Mines. Kazungu is being greedy, and I don’t understand why he is doing this”.
Tivoro claimed that Kazungu, who operated a nearby chrome mine, began encroaching on his property and even successfully lobbied ministry officials to alter the farm’s official coordinates.
While the officials involved in the coordinate change have since been fired, the dispute over the land continues to simmer.
The case eventually drew the intervention of former Mines minister, Winston Chitando.
In a formal letter dated July 16, 2018, Chitando took the decisive step of cancelling Kazungu’s mining registration for the Phoebe 49 Mine.
The minister ruled that the claim had been pegged illegally on land that was not open for prospecting.
“This section stipulates that a miner should obtain prior written consent of the landowner of a piece of land which does not exceed 100 hectares in extent before prospecting and pegging,” Chitando wrote, citing the Mines and Minerals Act.
Despite the ministerial cancellation, Kazungu remains defiant and continues to pursue the mine.
He has dismissed Tivoro’s version of events, even questioning the elder man’s status as a veteran.
“He is lying that he is a war veteran,” Kazungu said. “Ask him to show a payslip... He is trying to create a dispute, and we have all the necessary papers.”
As the matter heads to court, Tivoro has made a direct plea for government protection to ensure his second relocation isn’t at the hands of prospectors.
