For generations, the Bosman family has tended the soils of Dundrennam Farm in Chinhoyi, their lives dictated by the quiet, predictable rhythms of agricultural life.
But in recent years, those rhythms have been violently shattered.
Today, the family finds itself at the center of a brutal, coordinated onslaught not from nature, but from a predatory alliance of politically connected individuals determined to tear their land away from them.
What began as lawless land occupations and courtroom battles has mutated into something far more sinister: a chilling smear campaign that weaponises the tragic death of a young farm boy, Suarance Moffat, to orchestrate the ruin of an innocent family.
The motive is as old as it is transparent, that is land greed wrapped in political intimidation.
The assault on Dundrennam Farm kicked off in earnest when a mob of ruling party youths led by a failed Zanu PF 2023 Chinhoyi constituency parliamentary candidate, Thomas Chidzomba, occupied a section of the property.
It took a gruelling, year-long legal battle for Brink Bosman to secure an eviction order, finally forcing the occupiers off the land in April this year.
Simultaneously, the family was hit from the other side of the political aisle.
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While the elder Bosman fought Zanu PF squatters, the younger Bosman, Auther, was dragged to court by Tendai Musonza, the Mashonaland West spokesperson for the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).
Musonza is seeking the eviction of the Bosmans from Subdivision Lot 6 of Zawi Farm in Makonde.
Even local traditional leadership has joined the feeding frenzy.
Mambo Jeremiah Jenami has demanded a portion of Dundrennam for traditional rituals, claiming a pool on the property belonged to his ancestors.
“Dundrennam farm is privately owned for commercial use,” Brink Bosman said, standing firm against a multi-pronged siege that defies the very concept of property rights and the rule of law.
But when political bullying and legal warfare failed to displace the Bosmans, their detractors resorted to character assassination.
Three years after the tragic death of a young farm worker's son, Moffat, a fabricated murder charge was suddenly conjured up to give Bosman sleepless nights.
According to Bosman, the timeline of the accusation exposes its malicious intent.
The "murder" narrative only materialised when the land-grabbers faced legal defeat.
“Problems started when Chidzomba and his Zanu PF colleagues came and occupied part of my farm and started raising unfounded claims and accusations about the death of Suarance,” Bosman told The Standard.
“Chidzomba fabricated a murder charge against me to justify occupying a portion of my farm, to pressurize me into surrendering that portion of land.”
The state’s original case completely collapsed the narrative being pushed by the politicians.
Initially, a tractor driver, Douglas Zhanewo, was charged with culpable homicide.
In 2024, Zhanewo was fully acquitted after court records (CHN/CD/1983/24) conclusively established that the child was never run over by a tractor.
Zhanewo, along with Blessed Mugwedebure, one of the first villagers on the scene, recalled that the boy’s body was found pristine, lying perfectly on top of tall, flattened weeds, with absolutely no blood stains on the ground.
“With the body lying on top of the weeds, it means somebody placed the body there after I drove through,” Zhanewo indicated, pointing to a horrific reality that the child was killed elsewhere and dumped in the field to frame the farm workers.
While local police officers whom the boy’s father, Tichaona Moffat, admits "fear and take instructions from politicians" conveniently dragged their feet
An investigation by Truth Diggers uncovered a shocking domestic cover-up that local authorities ignored.
On the day of the tragedy, neighbors report that young Suarance had a violent fight with his half-sister, Shelter, over a television channel.
When Suarance overpowered her, an individual named Radzo intervened, striking Suarance fatally on the back of the head.
To cover up the crime, the body was placed in the tracks of Zhanewo's oncoming, maize-loaded tractor to make it look like a farm accident.
Immediately following the incident, both Shelter and Radzo vanished from the compound.
Astonishingly, local police never interviewed them at the time.
When confronted about this, Suarance’s stepmother and Shelter’s mother Tafadzwa Chineni, claimed the children were "happily playing" when her son was run over by a combine harvester driven by Bosman himself directly contradicting both the medical evidence and her husband’s own narrative.
She confirmed that Shelter is now based in Chegutu and Radzo has since relocated to Harare.
Frustrated by suspected corruption and political meddling at the local police level, Bosman said detectives from CID Law and Order in Harare took over the docket, investigated the case, and predictably found zero evidence linking him to the death.
“Due to allegations of corruption at the local level, CID Law and Order Harare, investigated the allegations and found no evidence against me. The matter is now with the NPA,” Bosman argued.
The matter now sits with the National Prosecution Authority (NPA).
For the Bosman family, the stakes have transcended a simple land dispute.
Seasons change and court papers continue to pile up at Dundrennam Farm.
The Bosmans have refused to abandon the land that defines their identity, remaining rooted to the soil, waiting for a final verdict.
