Zimbabwe returns land to evicted white land owner

Rob Smart, 71, whooped with joy this week when he was told that he can return to his farm in eastern Zimbabwe – the only home he has ever known, the Telegraph reports.

He and his family, including his young grandchildren and many of their workers, were evicted at gunpoint from their farm in the east of the country nearly six months ago by several gangs loyal to former first lady Grace Mugabe.

Former Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe supported land invasions from 2000 which saw about 4,000 white farmers evicted, sometimes violently. Mugabe was last month forced to resign after a bloodless coup d’etat that saw his former vice president Mnangagwa took over as president.

Smart told Reuters that new president Emmerson Mnangagwa, personally oversaw his return after he heard about the case.

He says: “Apparently Mnangagwa saw that and flipped his lid.”

One of those who engineered the invasion was Bishop Trevor Manhanga, who leads a church known as the Pentecostal Assemblies of Zimbabwe.

Mr Smart said the “Bishop” tried to prevent him from meeting ruling Zanu PF politicians loyal to Mr Mnangagwa, in Harare earlier in the week. Bishop Manhanga previously confirmed he had been “allocated” Mr Smart’s farm. He did not answer his phone on Thursday.

Chris Mutsvangwa, an adviser to Mr Mnangagwa, said: “Land reform is over. Now we want inclusiveness. All citizens who had a claim to land by birthright, we want them to feel they belong and we want them to build a new country because this economy is shattered.”

Smart continues: “We were cheered when we told the people we were going home to our far.

“We were very emotional. We have been warned our return may take a few days as police have to clear out those who took the farm.

“We know our houses have been trashed and stuff like our fridge was taken, but that’s ok. We have to raise some money and we will plant potatoes as soon as we can.”

A version of this report appeared in the Telegraph UK