Recently appointed co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone is reported to have asked officials in her ministry to explain why ZANU PF officials and military officers, implicated in the looting of white-owned farms, have not been investigated or arrested.

A report in the weekly Zimbabwe Independent newspaper quotes Makone saying she had received a dossier containing 'a long list' of cases where officials have either looted property or taken over farms in defiance of court orders. Makone told the paper she was still working on the document and had given a copy to the permanent secretary in the ministry 'to check what happened to the cases."

ZANU PF activist Temba Mliswa, George Marere and Martin Mutasa (son of Presidential Affairs Minister Didymus Mutasa) were recently arrested on charges of trying to fraudulently acquire a US$1 million shareholding in a company owned by a white businessman. The case has since opened a can of worms with Mliswa claiming police chief Augustine Chihuri is an interested party. At least 70 new cases were opened against Mliswa, including allegations he swindled displaced white farmers of equipment and property worth over US$24 million.

The document, which Makone has in her possession, states that the police have refused to enforce High Court orders and that a "situation of lawlessness now persists on the farms with the tacit approval of the police." Makone's colleague in the ministry, Kembo Mohadi, rather 'tongue in cheek' said the police should investigate anyone who commits a crime irrespective of rank, title or position in government and party.

Mohadi dismissed suggestions that there were people in ZANU PF who were untouchables, telling the Zimbabwe Independent "there is no one that is above the law. It is just a perception. If a case has been reported to the police, they should take action and they should apply the law as is. If there is any case that they have been sweeping under the carpet, these should be brought before the courts. The police will not be allowed to do that."

The tragic irony will not be lost on the family of Strover Mutonhori, who was murdered in 1999 after an alleged affair with Mohadi's wife. Mutonhori disappeared from the Omadu Hotel in Kezi and his remains were later found at a remote spot in Mzingwane, outside Bulawayo. The minister was the prime suspect and there was strong opposition to his appointment at Home Affairs, given police reluctance to investigate the case. It was also reported at the time that the Mutonhori docket had disappeared and the evidence seriously tampered with.

Meanwhile examples from the dossier reportedly show how other ZANU PF big wigs have no regard for the rule of law. Brigadier Justin Itayi Mujaji has ignored six High Court orders to vacate Korori Farm in Rusape. He also ignored a letter from Manicaland governor Tinaye Chigudu, reminding him that the late Vice-President Joseph Msika had endorsed Charles Lock's stay on the farm. Mujaji had used national army soldiers to physically evict Lock from the farm and police have said they are powerless to enforce court orders, including a warrant of arrest, on the brigadier.

Harare based lawyer David Drury said he was dealing with more than 600 cases involving white farmers who lost property to ZANU PF officials and army generals. Commenting on the Mliswa case Drury said "my first reaction is that miracles happen. It's taken 10 years for somebody to bring to account the looting. It remains to be seen whether the development bears any fruition into court prosecution in regard to these individuals."

Drury said he doubted the dossier which the Home Affairs Minister had was a complete record of all the looting that had gone on saying it was 'just a tip of the iceburg. The amount of looting over 10 years is enormous.' Drury clients were victims of Mliswa's looting but he told us the case was dropped 4 years ago. "I got a call from a policeman two weeks ago saying, can I dig up my dusty file from my office and I said sure." The police had already shredded their own records of the case it seems.

So will the case mean other big chefs being prosecuted? Not so the lawyer argued, "I think that the higher the level of the chef, is the probability of more immunity accruing to that person".

Other cases in the dossier involve Philip Chiyangwa and Ignatius Chombo, who were reported to police by the Harare City Council for corruption in several dubious land deals. No action has been taken by the police, although they swiftly moved to arrest journalists who wrote the story and the councilors who exposed the scandal.

The Zimbabwe Independent article also quotes Commercial Farmers Union president David Theron, who gave some examples of the looting that took place on white owned farms:

Major-General Nicholas Dube, who allegedly looted property from Chipinge farmers Michael Odendaal and Michael Jahme and also allegedly harassed Paul Stibulph in Karoi.

Stibulph allegedly lost farm equipment, tobacco and soya bean crop worth US$ 900 000 to Dube.

High Court judge Justice Lavender Makoni gave an order in November 2009 for Stibulph to repossess his property, but he was barred from entering Grand Parade Farm by soldiers manning the property.

David Younghusband, who owned Foliot Farm in Karoi, allegedly lost farm equipment worth over US$1 million to Brigadier-General Francis Mutisi. Younghusband has since relocated to New Zealand after failing to repossess his tractors, lorries, irrigation equipment and delivery vans.

A High Court judge on April 15 ordered a Lieutenant-Colonel M Masabeya in case number HC 2227/10 to return equipment, which included irrigation pipes, vehicles spares, tractors, trailers, electric motors, motorbikes and land preparation implements removed from Matanuska (Pvt) Ltd in Mutare but this has not been complied with.