Anti-riot police have harassed, beaten, and ordered some 200 families off a farm linked to President Robert Mugabe's family, Human Rights Watch said today. The police affirmed in a court filing that the Arnolds Farm in Mazowe, Mashonaland Central province, Zimbabwe, which the families have occupied since 2000, is owned by the president's family. Human Rights Watch could not independently verify the farm ownership.
On March 17, 2017, about 100 anti-riot police began demolishing homes at Arnolds Farm, forcing residents onto trucks and dumping them by the roadside 40 kilometers away. On March 24, the farm residents obtained a High Court order to stop the evictions, and barred the police from harassing them by demolishing their homes or attempting to evict them without a valid court order. The police told lawyers representing the farm residents they were acting on the orders of their "superiors," but did not have a High Court order approving the eviction, as required by the law. A January 14, 2015, High Court order similarly prohibited the police from interfering with farming activities at Arnolds Farm and from demolishing the residents' homes and other property.
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