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20 March 2008
Digby and Jessie Nesbitt have been held captive on their Farm by the Commissioner of Police – Edmore Veterai. He has stated he is “above the law” and continues to defy court orders, to leave the Nesbitts and their farming operation, that supports the community and an orphanage in peace.
This is Jessie’s story of the happenings in their house hat they have not left for over a month.
INVASION OF FARM 30 – N & B SUGAR ESTATES – D.NESBITT
The following is the story of our nightmare that began weeks ago with no end in sight as yet. We had numerous phone calls from various people wanting us to go public with what was happening on the farm. However, we were reluctant to do so, hoping that the justice system in this country would prevail because we had various court orders supposedly preventing this nightmare from happening.
Because we had not evacuated our farm by 30th November, 2007 we were summonsed to court at 9 a.m. on the morning of 28th January, 2008
The reason we had not left our farm by that date was because we had been informed by four top government officials, one of which was a minister who informed us that the honourable minister Mutasa was coming down to the Lowveld on the 19th December to resolve our issue on the farm.
On the 18th we were informed that the honourable minister Mutusa could not come down on that date due to other commitments but would come in early January. During the month of January my husband, Digby was asked to report to the Police Station in Chiredzi to be charged. He had to give a statement and was told to report to the court on the 28th January at 9 a.m. When he arrived there, he was told that the court case was postponed to 12 p.m. He went back at 12 p.m. only to be told that it was now postponed to the 10th March 2008.
That afternoon when returning to work in Chiredzi from farm 30, Digby met up with Mr Veterai, the assist commissioner in the Police. He stopped Digby and said that he did not care about the court case as he was above the law and that he was taking over the farm immediately. He ranted and raved like a madman and said that he was going to kick Digby’s white arse of the farm no matter what.
Digby drove to town and reported the incident to the member-in-charge at the Police Station, who said that they could only intervene if there was violence as this was a land issue and unless he had some kind of court order, they could do nothing. He then went straight home as he was afraid for my safety as we had had previous altercations with Veterai before and he has a temper on him and always walks around armed with a pistol and sometimes also a folding buttAK 47 rifle.
On the Tuesday morning at 6.30 Veterai arrived at our house with about 15 people including his wife and green bombers. Veterai showed us his new offer letter which said that he was taking over 71 hectares instead of the original 40 that he had been allocated. This meant that absolutely nothing was left for us. When I told the governor, Mr Chiwewe, he said that Veterai’s offer letter was fraudulent and he said that I should tell Veterai that he had said that. Veterai said that he did not care and that he was taking his 71 hectares and that no politician would stop him because they are all corrupt.
Veterai had just broken into our office down at the compound and taken everything out and dumped it on the lawn. He also broke into my mother’s cottage and took all the keys with the result that every time I went to feed her cats, I had to climb through the lounge window where two louvers were missing.
Veterai threatened our crocodile manager, Sam and said that he was going to kill him and throw his body into the croc pen. A couple of weeks before, Sam was told that he was going to be castrated if he did not move out of his house.
While we were in South Africa during the month of December, his furniture was thrown out of his house into the mud as it had been raining. Since then he and his family had been living in the little cottage next to our house. He was scared out of his wits.
Veterai came into our lounge and sat down, saying that he and his family and guards would be moving in with us that day, whether we liked it or not. When I said that I objected, he called me a racist and said that it was because he is black that we did not want him living with us.
He shouted and ranted and raved like a madman again, saying that he knew how to eat with a knife and fork and that he knew how to use the bathroom properly. Anyway, he just made himself at home in the lounge for the rest of the day while his family moved their pots and pans etc into our kitchen. They took over the three guest rooms down the passage and the guards were posted in the lounge and dining room. Our front gate was locked and two booms were put up, one down at the compound and one just outside by the stables. We were prevented from leaving the house - just pure intimidation.
On the Wednesday morning–the guards unlocked our front gate obviously wanting us to leave everything and run. Our minister’s wife and another friend came to see how we were doing and we were sitting in the one section of the lounge, away from where the guards were. Veterai walked in from the bedroom where he had locked himself in until that time. He said that I had called him a baboon and started shouting and screaming and going beserk like a lunatic. I was flabbergasted as it was a total lie – I would never insult anyone like that, no matter what. Anyway, he calmed down eventually and went out of the room.
After my visitors had left and I was walking back to the lounge, Veterai came walking out and as I passed him, my dogs (dachsi, jack Russell and two very gentle mongrel crosses) started barking at him. He immediately lashed out at me, saying that I had set the dogs on him and kicked them, at the same time pulling out his pistol and pointing it at them, saying that he would shoot them and anyone else who got in his way. That night we locked ourselves in our bedroom at about 5.30 and went to bed absolutely exhausted. My poor dogs and cats were absolutely terrified with all these strangers traipsing in out of our house like they owned the place.
On the Thursday morning we woke up, got dressed and went through to the kitchen to organize breakfast only to find about four women busy cooking sadza on our stove. We then proceeded to the lounge and found an absolute mess, obviously a party had been held the previous night as there were empty beer, liquor and coke bottles scattered all over the carpet and the furniture was in disarray. When Digby confronted Veterai about the mess and said that it was disgusting, he immediately twisted what he said and accused Digby of calling him disgusting. Later that morning the member-in-charge from the Police Station in Chiredzi came out to the farm and basically informed us that there was nothing they could do about the situation unless there was any violence as this is a land issue.
On the Friday morning no visitors were allowed to come out and see us at the house. We were sitting in the one section of the lounge listening to some Christian music and minding our own business. What happened next was just pure intimidation and when I think about it now I can’t believe what a cheek these people had – doing this to us in our own home where we have lived since 1983.
One of Veterai’s green bombers came and put a C.D. player on the little table right next to me where I was sitting and plugged it in. He then put a C.D. in and turned the volume up, trying his utmost to really irritate and infuriate me.
My immediate reaction was to get up and turn up the volume of my Christian music that we had been listening to. This carried on for some time and then we decided we would move to the other part of the lounge and turn our music down and just pretend that we could not even hear their music. They were trying their level best to irritate us and get us all worked up, so that we would say “enough, I am out of here” but they were wrong as it takes a lot more than that to get us out of our home where we have spent so many happy years. This is the house where our three children had grown up and also, it had taken us many years to pay the farm off when we bought it. We had to sell our transport business to pay the deposit.
Veterai carried his pistol with him at all times but when he arrived back from Harare which was normally late at night, he always arrived carrying his folding AK 47 machine gun as well. It was almost like he feared for his life and seemed to think that we might try to harm him during the night, as he always locked his bedroom door as well. Our staff were prevented from coming to work for two days as they were told by the green bombers to stay away. My poor maid, Chipo, at this stage, was crying constantly and was suffering from severe headaches. She had also been chased away from her house in December and was having to share a room with a friend in the main compound.
On the Saturday we had a few visitors during the morning which we really appreciated as they brought us groceries which we really needed by this time and it was just no nice to see some friendly faces. While we were talking, the green bombers and Veterai’s relatives were playing their music loudly, trying to irritate us.
That evening while we were sitting on the steps outside the lounge with our doctor and his wife ; our lounge had people coming in and out all afternoon– the doctor had come out to check our blood pressure just to make sure we were okay – men dressed in army uniforms started arriving as well as other people.
Next minute we saw crates of beer, liquor and cokes being carried into the lounge so obviously a big party was being planned for that night. We just sat chatting, pretending we were not perturbed but knew we were in for a night of intimidation. As soon as our guests had left, we went through to the bedroom and locked ourselves in for the night. Fortunately the power that had gone out at 5 p.m. stayed off until 11 p.m. and it seemed that the party was a flop as the whole house was in darkness. We had our invertor on in the bedroom so we had a light and a fan. As you can imagine, we did not fall asleep for a long time as there were vehicles coming and going throughout the night and we heard people walking past our bedroom until late.
On the Sunday morning I went to my mother’s cottage (she is in South Africa with her sister and is unable to come back until things are back to normal) to feed her two cats. I had to climb through the window again. Veterai’s manager and another man have been sleeping in the lounge every night. On the way back I saw Veterai and about 12 of his guards sitting with him having a meeting. He was speaking on his cell phone at the time. Later that morning about ten or twelve members from our church tried to come and visit us after church but were not allowed in. They tried everything to persuade the guards to let them in and spent a couple of hours arguing with them until eventually our minister and his wife were allowed through. They gave us communion and were only allowed to stay for about 15 minutes.
On the Monday I went to my mother’s cottage to feed the cats and when I arrived there, I saw that the lounge door was open. I walked in, only to find Veterai sprawled on the couch in the lounge with three or four men around him having a meeting. I was taken aback but said nothing and just walked through to the kitchen and fed the cats. I then walked straight through the lounge again and pretended they were not there. They said nothing. The reason I did not say anything is because I had sworn on the Bible that I would never in my life say another word to Veterai because I had realized by this time that he was trying to provoke me and if I said nothing, then he could not accuse me of saying something I did not say, which was his way of provoking me and intimidating us.
By Tuesday our lawyers in Masvingo had managed to draw up a court order to have Veterai evicted from the farm until such time as the court case on 10th March. The court order stated that he had to evacuate the farm with immediate effect and that he could not come within 30 metres of the farm. Needless to say, this was totally ignored and nothing appened.
By this time the guards were allowing us to have visitors but not more than two cars at one time. They wanted everyone’s names, I.D. numbers, vehicle registration numbers and the reason for visiting.
For the rest of the week there were comings and goings of Veterai and his family and staff. The only way we were coping with this unbelievable invasion of our privacy and intimidation was through our faith in God and our many friends and family who prayed continually and sent many sms’s giving us encouragement and support. Many people brought us groceries which were accepted with gratitude because by this time we had very little food left in our kitchen. I just want to mention that we had incredible support from many blacks as well as whites. We had many visits and phone calls from black friends and people we hardly knew which we really appreciated.
On the Saturday afternoon we were in our bedroom when the dogs started barking like mad. We saw two black men walking past from our bedroom, one who was carrying a firearm. I thought “what now?” Digby went outside only to find that it was our groom who was bringing the war veteran by the name of Satan from the farm next door. He wanted to see Digby and said to Digby that he is on our side and that he does not want to us leave our farm. He also said that he does not want Digby to get BP (blood pressure) which I found rather amusing.
This guy Satan is one of the genuine war vets and has been on the farm next door for about six years now. He said that all the local war vets support us as they do not want Veterai taking over our farm. He said that Veterai had approached him and other war vets in the area and asked them to help jambanja us and they refused as they have the utmost respect for Digby He said he knew how much we have done for the community in the Lowveld, such as building an orphanage in Chiredzi which has 47 orphans in at present. He also built a clinic on the farm (which has been occupied by some of Veterai’s staff for the past year)and he had helped many people over the years.
On the Sunday morning we woke up to the sound of rapid gun fire just outside our yard. We immediately panicked, wondering what on earth was going on. The dogs were barking like crazy so I went through to the kitchen to find about four women cooking on my stove. I then went through to the dining room and there was Veterai sitting at my dining room table with about six other men, eating sadza and having a meeting. They stayed most of the morning and we had people all over the house and in the garden. Our friend, Leon Kruger came around for tea and a visit so we went to sit outside in the corner of the garden, far from the maddening crowd.
While we were sitting there, I felt like I had such a weight on my chest and I put my hand on my heart which by this time was beating so fast, I thought I was on the verge of having a heart attack. I got up, went to the lounge, passed Veterai who was still sitting in the dining room with his children and another man, just ignored him and went to sit in the lounge and listened to my Christian C.D. I just needed something to calm my nerves – the green bombers stared at me as though I was mad because I was singing with the music.
I then sat on the carpet, in full view of Veterai, and played with my dogs while listening to the music. The next minute Veterai disappeared down the passage and came back with two bags in his hands and went out the door. He must have gone to Harare because with the elections coming on so soon and with him being so high up in the Police, he no doubt has his work cut out for him.
We discovered later that the gun shots that we had heard that morning was some of Veterai’s men doing target practice right outside our yard!! Pure intimidation!!
By the Thursday Leon Kruger, a director in our company and Johan Hundermark, a member of our staff at the head office were no longer allowed to come and see us – what the reason is, I don’t know but I can only guess it is because they always bring us papers from the office or come to discuss business and it seems that, according to stories we have heard from various staff members, mine and his, is that Veterai wants us to go off the farm, to work or church and then he has given his guards instructions to lock us out once we go through the boom. Another two people who were banned from coming to see us was our son Rory and also Mike Clark.
Later that morning Veterai’s manager came up the driveway in his pick-up to ask Digby when the pump, which had broken a few days before, was going to be ready and he must hurry up and get it fixed. Incidently the quote Digby got for having the pump repaired, was$15 billion. On Sunday morning at about 2 a.m. we were woken up to the sound of a vehicle coming up our driveway and car lights shining through our bedroom window. Digby peeped through the curtain and saw Veterai and his wife get of the vehicle which was a brand new silver twin cab. Veterai was armed with a pistol and his AK47. He and his wife came inside and went and slept in the guestrooms down the passage. The dogs were at this stage barking like crazy and needless to say, we hardly slept for the rest of the night. Thankfully he left early the next morning.
We could not believe that we had now been prisoners in our own home for almost three weeks. If it was not for the incredible support of our family, friends and church members, we would never have survived up to now. We had so many sms’s, phone calls and e-mails from people near and far. They were so worried about our safety especially with Veterai walking around armed all the time.On the Sunday we were lying on our bed feeling very despondent as the court order had been totally ignored and we did know which way to turn now.
We think back to 1980 and where we are right now. The honourable president Robert Mugabe said in his speech that any whites who wanted to stay after Independence and help to build a new Zimbabwe, were welcome. In 1990 when he said “one man, one farm” we realized that land reform was inevitable and we did not contest it when our two ranches, totaling 15,000 acres was taken for resettlement. These ranches were in the Chiredzi River Conservancy which would eventually become part of the trans-frontier park and we had bought all the game that was on the ranch and built a safari camp and a compound for our staff. Both properties were totally resettled and we did not protest as we believed in land reform even though this safari camp would have attracted tourists and brought in foreign currency. We thought back to what the President had said about one man, one farm and accepted the inevitable.
After that, suddenly three A2 settlers were allocated 20 hectares of sugar cane each on my remaining sugar cane farm. This cane had just been replanted. The farm is only 126 hectares altogether so this left us with 66 hectares which included the houses, compounds, crocodile operation and a hill behind the house.
Then in March 2007 Veterai arrived on the farm with an offer letter for 40 hectares which would mean that we were only left with 26 hectares which we did not agree with but we thought at least our house, my mothers’ cottage, our manager’s house and small compound and the crocodile set-up (a total of 8000 crocodiles) would not be included in the deal. Veterai said he wanted all the houses for himself, his family and staff and that afternoon he arrived at the house while Digby was at work and said that if we did not move out, he and I would sleep together that night.
He then left and that night he returned at about 9.30 and said that he wanted the houses immediately. He got in his car and drove to our manager’s house where our operations manager was living and started harassing her and intimidating her, banging on the windows and scaring her half to death. Digby got a frantic sms from her and immediately got in his truck and drove over there. When he got there, there was Veterai at the house armed with an AK 47 and his wife was standing next to him, also armed and six armed guards were standing behind them. Digby, who was unarmed and had no weapon on him whatsoever, thought that this was the end of the road and expected to be shot any minute. Anyway he managed to get the operations manager out of the house and they came home shaken but thankfully unharmed, where she spent the night. She was totally traumatized by this event.
The next morning we found that our gates were locked and that we were unable to get to work. There were armed guards at the gate. At about 11 a.m. the D.A., the lands committee and about eight other people arrived to tell me that my manager had 24 hours to move out of her house because Veterai wanted to move in with his family. Digby kept asking them which 40 hectares was Mr Veterai taking over and they could not answer but they insisted that he was allowed to move into that house immediately. By this time our manager was so distraught that she just wanted to move out of her house and move into town where fortunately we had a little flat available.
Digby took the incident up with the local authorities and various ministers and was told that a meeting had been held with minister Mutasa and he had agreed that Veterai’s offer letter had been withdrawn and that he himself would come down to sort out the matter in December. During the second week of December, we went to Pretoria to visit my brother for four days. While we were away, we got an urgent phone call from our manager to say that Veterai had chased all our senior staff and domestic staff out of their houses on the farm. Their furniture had been thrown out in the mud as it had been raining and they had to ask various friends if they had a spare room for them to move into. Veterai did this in the same way that he had conducted Operation Murambatsvina in Harare in 2006. He seemed to care very little about people’s feelings.
We left as soon as we could and wondered what was going to happen when we crossed the border at Beit Bridge as our staff had been told that Digby was going to be arrested and put in jail the moment we arrived in Zimbabwe. When we arrived home, there was a seven ton trailer parked in our driveway that prevented us from driving up to the house. We had picked up some of our staff from our office in town and they towed the trailer out of the way. Veterai had taken our landcruiser out of our garage and towed it to the compound and then parked his landrover in our garage in its place. He took our four vintage cars that were parked in our hangar and towed them to the compound too and then put some of his equipment there. He had also parked an old trailer full of old tyres on our lawn. Our staff took everything of Veterai’s out of our yard and left them outside our gate.
Our crocodile manager, Sam moved into the little cottage right next to our house where he and his family are still living. Six weeks later Veterai moved into our house with his family and staff. And that is where we are now.
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