By Victor Fanuel
Harare – A major land dispute is unfolding in Mashonaland East province, where war veterans and black farmers, many of them beneficiaries of Zimbabwe’s fast-track land reform programme are accusing government officials of aiding the illegal transfer of their land to controversial businessman Billy Rautenbach.
At the centre of the storm is Springs Farm, a productive property occupied and developed over two decades by local farmers, including liberation war veterans issued offer letters during the early 2000s land redistribution campaigns.
The farm has since been handed to Rautenbach’s company, Marimba Residential Properties Limited, in a compensation deal that critics say violates court rulings and undermines land reform gains.
The ministry of lands issued a title deed to Rautenbach on June 5, 2025, weeks before the High Court could hear an interdict application filed by the evicted farmers on August 2, 2024.
The move has raised alarm over the government’s disregard for legal process.
“We feel betrayed, we feel let down because the land in this country did not come on a silver platter.
“People went to war, blood was lost for land to be reclaimed.
“This is a pure reversal of the land reform,” said Unico Chikomo, a long-time farmer at Springs Farm.
The chaotic land redistribution programme, spearheaded by the late president Robert Mugabe, was meant to correct colonial and historical injustices.
War veterans were among its first beneficiaries, taking over white-owned farms as part of a policy to restore ancestral land rights.
However, critics say revoking offer letters to benefit Rautenbach is a betrayal of that legacy.
Rautenbach is reportedly being compensated for land he claims to have lost in Harare’s Aspindale Park, now occupied by Zanu PF-linked housing cooperatives.
However, a March 25, 2019 High Court ruling by Justice Philda Muzofa found that Rautenbach’s companies had no legal claim to that land, having failed to produce title deeds.
“The land which Billy Rautenbach claims to have lost in Aspindale was never his.
He failed to produce title deeds and consequently lost the case in the High Court.
“He cannot be compensated for something he never owned and lost,” wrote the farmers in a petition to war veterans minister Monica Mavhunga.
Despite this, local government minister Daniel Garwe offered Rautenbach over 1,000 hectares of farmland, including Springs and adjacent Stuhm Farm, in a letter dated March 14, 2025.
The letter cited compensation for Aspindale and assured title deed processing upon acceptance.
“The Ministry shall facilitate title deeds processing once you accept the offer,” Garwe wrote.
The decision has sparked outrage among displaced farmers and former MPs.
Many say they were never consulted, despite holding valid leases and having made long-term investments.
“We have invested in the farm… building schools, clearing land, improving irrigation, acquiring equipment, and building homes.
“The government of Zimbabwe is party to these joint ventures, some of which run until 2029,” said an affected farmer.
Observers warn the move undermines President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Title Deeds Programme, which promises to secure land rights and empower resettled farmers.
“This is happening at a time when government claims to be resolving land tenure security.
How can land be taken from black farmers and war veterans to enrich a politically connected tycoon?” said a former Zanu PF MP.
For the Chikomo family and many others, the experience has shattered faith in the promises of land reform.
“What is painful is that President Mnangagwa has been clear that no war veteran must lose land, especially widows and children… but here we are, being evicted like squatters,” said Chikomo.
As pressure mounts, affected farmers are demanding that government reverse the decision, respect court rulings, and protect the legacy of a land reform programme that once promised empowerment,but now risks serving the powerful.
