Soldiers Invade Farm Evict Farmers

A group of soldiers have invaded, attacked and evicted farmers at the disputed Ingleborough Farm in Mazowe, Mashonaland Central province, in brazen violation of courts orders, including one recently issued by High Court Justice Neville Wamambo interdicting them from interfering in its operations.

The troops came and booted out the farmers, including the mother and family Wonder Mukaira, a prominent indigenous farmer on the land which has been a battleground between civilian land owners and the military.

In a renewed defiance of court orders and trampling upon the rule of law, senior military commanders invaded the farm despite being interdicted from interfering with the police and court sheriff implementing a lawful ruling to evict occupants loyal to them or their proxies.

Wamambo on July 24 issued an interdict against Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) and Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) commanders, Lieutenant-Colonel Ncube, Lieutenant-Colonel Malamba and another senior commander Chirwanemhuka, barring them from interfering with police and the sheriff enforcing execution of a court order under case number RHCH4996/22.

This order was issued to evict the unlawful occupants backed by the soldiers.
However, on April 9, 2026, armed soldiers blocked the High Court sheriff from enforcing the order to evict their proxies.

This forced one of the farmers, Tryness Kabiti, to return to court seeking an order to interdict the soldiers from their continued interference and, specifically, to allow police and the sheriff to enforce the eviction order.

Wamambo’s July 24 court interdict reads:

INTERIM RELIEF GRANTED

Pending determination of this matter, the Applicant is granted the following relief –

The 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents (soldiers – Ncube, Malamba and Chirwanemhuka)be and are hereby each ordered interdicted from interfering with the 5th and 6th (police and sheriff) respondent’s execution of the court order under case number RHCH4996/22, being the eviction of the 1st to the 6th defendants in that matter from the Remaining extent of Ingleborough Farm situated in the Mazowe District of Mashonaland Central Province measuring 100ha in extent.

The 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents jointly and severally the one paying the others to be absolved refund the applicant the costs of the botched 9 April 2026 execution within seven days of the grant of this order.

The 1st to the 3rd respondents pays the cost of this application on the legal practitioner and client

But the soldiers – again – defied this court order as they freshly invaded the farm, which they did in April when they blocked police and the sheriff from executing an eviction order.

The applicant, Kabiti, is operating under immense pressure from the aggressive soldiers.

The respondents were Ncube, Malamba, Chirwanemhuka, another senior ZNA commander who is unnamed in court papers, a Zimbabwe Republic Police officer in charge of Marlborough Police Station and the Sheriff (Bindura).

These military officers are still serving under the ZDF and ZNA.

The case has been raging for many years.

Tensions escalated on April 9, when armed soldiers blocked the High Court sheriff from executing a lawful eviction order against occupants on the land, who are their proxies.

This led to the farm owners – Kabiti and Mukwaira – to go back to court to seek relief.

The saga revolves around a long-standing conflict between resettled indigenous farmers, including Kabiti and Mukaira, and ZDF soldiers.

Indigenous farmers were originally allocated portions of the farm under the land reform programme around 2013.

The state later reallocated portions or all of the property to the military for “institutional use”, prompting years of court battles over offer letters and the farm.

Military officers intervened during the April eviction bid, detaining the sheriff briefly and reinstating displaced settlers.

Now they have evicted local farmers, breaking the law with impunity.