Masvingo woman, 2 years old baby detained by ZRP for resisting plot takeover by Chivi North MP Mukungunugwa

By Agencies

Police in Masvingo on Monday detained a woman and her two-year-old baby after she resisted the alleged takeover of her plot in Clipsham by Chivi North MP Godfrey Mukungunugwa (pictured).

Nancy Rikitai Gwaindepi, 42, and a neighbour spent the night in cells and were released the following afternoon.

The incident began when a group of men arrived at Gwaindepi’s plot and began erecting a fence covering four adjacent plots of 1.5 hectares each.

Gwaindepi told Masvingo Mirror she pleaded with them, explaining she was about to be made homeless, when a police Mahindra arrived with two female officers and a driver.

She, her baby and a neighbour were then arrested and taken to the police station.

“Four days ago, my wife was arrested, and she slept in the cells. Two of my children have just left home, and we do not know where they are. They fled because of the situation,” said her husband, Prichard Tafirenyika Masocks.

According to Gwaindepi, the fenced area forms part of more than four plots being taken over by Mukungunugwa, leaving him with at least six hectares in what is regarded as Masvingo’s most prime peri-urban agricultural area.

Workers erecting the fence told the family they had been sent by the MP.

The family, who have lived in Clipsham since 2002, are among more than 700 people facing eviction, including war veterans, former police officers and civil servants who have been there for over 20 years. Affected plot holders say they hold offer letters issued by the then Minister of Lands.

They claim the new occupiers — said to include permanent secretaries, directors in various ministries and workers from the office of Masvingo Minister of State Ezra Chadzamira — are armed with fresh letters from the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works. Those being evicted say they were only given verbal notices to vacate.

Plot holders allege the new scheme is shrouded in secrecy. Efforts by Masvingo Mirror to obtain details from relevant government departments have yielded nothing for the past two years.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, some plot holders claimed ZANU PF politicians involved in the takeovers are multiple farm owners with sugarcane farms in Chiredzi and other farms elsewhere.

Gwaindepi, her husband and their 11-year-old son wept as they described the trauma they have suffered at the hands of ZANU PF and senior government officials.

Gwaindepi said she is so traumatised and depressed she sometimes thinks of taking her own life.

She said two of her other children, aged 16 and 19, have disappeared from home as harassment by police and Mukungunugwa’s workers intensified. The family does not know their whereabouts, although they should be in school.

Masocks, who works as a driver in Shurugwi, said he had to leave his job to be with his family.

He added that police had visited the area twice before, telling plot holders that someone with great influence was coming to occupy their plots.

Another affected resident, Moffat Chikozho, 72, said he has lived on his plot since 2002 and has been left disturbed by the latest developments.

Contacted for comment, Mukungunugwa confirmed the case to Masvingo Mirror but said the plot belonged to his brother, Day Mukungunugwa.

He described Gwaindepi as an illegal occupant who was given notice to move out when Day was allocated the land by the Ministry in September 2025.

He said the area is now designated as agro-business plots and that his brother had been in communication with the “illegal settlers”.

He asked the newspaper not to publish the story, arguing it would drag his name through the mud, and said he had never visited the plot himself.

Provincial police spokesperson Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa said Gwaindepi’s name was not in their records.

“I have checked our records, and we don’t have that name,” he said.

Mukungunugwa, however, confirmed that Gwaindepi was arrested.