Farmer wins $250k damages

THE High Court has ordered Makoni Rural District Council to pay $250 000 to a Nyazura farmer whose farm was arbitrarily designated as a food aid distribution centre.

Ms Chido Matewa, who owns Dagbreek Farm in Nyazura, sued the local authority for authorising the International Organisation for Migration to distribute food to the needy at the farm regularly, a development that disrupted her farming operations and exposed her property to theft.

The farmer told the court that she once lost 35 cattle to thieves in one day, a setback she attributed to thieves who now had access to the farm as a result of the local authority’s decision.

Council did not consult Ms Matewa before designating part of the farm as a food aid distribution centre.

Justice Erica Ndewere awarded Ms Matewa damages for loss of property and vandalism to the tune of $100 000.

Ms Matewa was also awarded $150 000 as damages for unlawful interference with her farming activities and loss of crops.

Justice Ndewere ordered the council to pay interest on the damages, calculated from the date of judgment to the date of full payment.

The court found that Makoni Rural District Council did not take any measures to protect the farm property from hundreds of hungry people who flocked to the designated point regularly to receive aid.

Electricity equipment was vandalised at the farm, resulting in Ms Matewa failing to irrigate her crops.

Makoni Rural District Council argued that it was a road authority in terms of the Road Act and was allowed to use servitude areas for the public interest.