Source: Man killed in fight over Chiyangwa farm | The Standard
A security guard at businessman and Zanu PF legislator, Philip Chiyangwa’s Old Citrus farm near Chinhoyi was last week bludgeoned to death by illegal settlers who were allegedly sponsored to invade the highly contested property by other ruling party bigwigs.
BY NUNURAI JENA
Chiyangwa, the former Zimbabwe Football Association president, won a court battle against more than 200 settlers who had invaded his farm.
Lloyd Bahera, managing director for National Eye Security, a company contracted to guard the farm by Chiyangwa, said the late Charles Cherachera together with other guards were approached by more than 200 settlers evicted from Citrus Farm who were singing and chanting slogans.
Bahera said the guards shot three warning shots into the air, but the settlers continued to advance and they disarmed Cherachera before severely beating him.
Cherachera was taken to Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital where he was admitted before succumbing to the wounds yesterday morning.
“We have been greatly affected and devastated by the death of one of our guards. What made this painful is that we could have easily fired shots at the crowd, but our guards chose to be lenient. They disarmed our guards and attacked them,” said Bahera.
Asked for comment yesterday, Chiyangwa accused his political opponents for trying to remove him from his farm by sponsoring violence. He singled out a Zanu PF central committee member and an aspiring MP for Chinhoyi as responsible for the chaos.
“These are the works of my political enemies. They are sponsoring thugs to destabilise my farming activities,” fumed Chiyangwa.
The politician also attacked the judiciary system, questioning why the accused in the case was quick to be granted bail.
“Allowing illegal settlers to invade farms is bad, more so, when a magistrate releases on bail an accused facing attempted murder charges while the victim was battling for life in hospital” said Chiyangwa.
Chiyangwa won a court battle a fortnight ago to evict Patrick Mafusire and other settlers numbering more than 200 from the 3 447-hectare Citrus Farm. But the settlers are arguing that the farm belongs to Chinhoyi Town Council and have since appealed against the judgement at the High Court.
COMMENTS
ZANU started farm invasions and the subsequent invasions are a consequence.
3,447 ha?!! Surely the maximum allowed farm size for the Chinhoyi area is between 700 and 1200 ha? Your farm needs to be sub-divided, comrade. It is the law!
KKKKK!
The law – ha ha – when do people in ZW worry abouit white mans pieces of paper comrades. Possession is nine tenths of the law – maybe the invaders will keep their new asset – if they are prepared to fight for it.
Although Comrade Philip was a memeber of the BSAP in colonial times I doubt if he would be prepared to go toe to toe with them in a skirmish today.
Well Philip things were nice and sweet when your old uncle Robert was making things very sweet for you.
You are now tasting what we all had to taste over all those many years when your uncle Robert was our big boss.
Sadly, our new big boss ED has many relatives to look after so you are now his nobody.
Just think of his poor lady cousin who by mistake picked up her hand luggage for the airport with 6kgs of gold and not her spare knickers and toothbrush. Probably ED’s bodyguards who were taking her to the airport were telling the poor lady to hurry up as their trusted contacts at the airport were about to go off duty!
Yes, ED and Mrs ED and ED junior have had to do a lot of busy thinking and quick talking lately.
So, Philip just suck it up and get on with your life. No help will be coming from ED.
And don’t cry, I’m sure that you have enough US$ stacked in Dubai and Singapore and Geneva and Hong Kong to last you ten lives.
Well said. I can only hope soon this and other sagas come to a final end. People in Zimbabwe deserve better after years of suffering and struggling to exist. They years of deceit fraud dictatorship abuse of human rights useless unfounded bureaucratic rules the list can go on and on should now stop.
Murder someone in cold blood, and be granted immediate bail. Call ED a nit-wit, and disappear behind bars forever. Zim justice. Shamefull.
More needs to done to evict Mr Ed and co. These bandits are completely soulless. No heart no empathy and the list goes on. We need better than this. I urge all readers,activists etc to write to their MPs wherever you are in the world urging them to pressure this useless regime to adopt the human rights Charter etc and follow the rule of law . This can not go on forever . Even Ian Smith went so why is the world allowing this regime go on.
Foreign MPs cannot help. The only way to rid this country of this scourge is for brave Zimbabwean men to come together, otherwise “aloota and corruption continua” ad infinitum.
Comrade Doctor Philip Chiyangwa Phd ( but did not pass O levels apparently) whose worth is close to USD 2 billion is Zimbabwe’s top tycoon or mogul. He will sort out the small boys who have invaded his farms. After all we must remember he is a chef and one of the ZANUPF ruling classes comrades.