Masvingo top cop in soup over farm ownership wrangle

A farm ownership wrangle pitting a politically influential national and a Zimbabwean of Italian origin has sucked in the Officer Commanding Police in Masvingo Province, Senior Assistant Commissioner Taonei Nyazema who has since been served with papers for contempt of court.

Ass Comm Nyazema (main picture) was this week served with summons and is set to appear at the High Court after he failed to evict Zivanai Huruva from Tony Renato Sarpo’s farm in Chiredzi after he invaded the contentious farm last year in February.

When he invaded the farm, Huruva was reportedly in the company of uniformed police officers and powerful politicians from Masvingo Province, who helped him seize the farm.

But Sarpo, a Zimbabwean of Italian origin, was on March 8, 2019 granted a spoliation order by the High Court in Harare which Huruva refused to honour.

On September 9 2020, Sarpo through his lawyers Mutamangira and Associates approached the same court with an urgent chamber application for contempt of court and committal with Huruva and Nyazema being cited as the first and second respondents respectively.

Sarpo obtained an order for spoliation against Huruva under case number HC1775/19 granted by Justice Matanda Moyo.

It is alleged Huruva returned to the farm on August 27, 2020 with the help of Police officers and powerful politicians in Masvingo Province. He took occupation of one of the houses at the farm. This happened despite the availability of a court order barring him from coming within a radius of 500metres of the farm.

“The court order restored peaceful and undisturbed possession of the farm to me and banned the first respondent and his operatives from coming within 500 metres of the boundaries of the farm. The first respondent has wantonly and brazenly disregarded the court order by Justice Matanda-Moyo notwithstanding its clear and unequivocal terms in that on August 27 2020 he came back to the farm and forcibly evicted one of my employees from his house and threw his belongings out so that the first respondent could take occupation. He further gained forcible entry into the main farm house,” the application reads in part.

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