3. Detailed background of complaint 3.1 The complaint was referred to the ZHRC by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) who recommended that the ZHRC investigate the alleged violations of the human rights of its clients (Complainants) who are residents of Arnold Farm. 3.2 The complainants state that in 2000 during the Land Reform Programme, acting upon the authority of the then ZANU PF Political Commissar Mr Elliot Manyika, they invaded and settled on Arnold known as “Manzou Farm” in Mazowe. However, from around 2006 there has been a series of arbitrary evictions by personnel from the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement as well as the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP). The evictions have seen battles between the authorities and the residents and these have escalated into Court cases, with various orders attached hereto as exhibits. The Complainants’ allegations are that since sometime in March 2017, without notification, persons purporting to represent the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement together with the Zimbabwe Republic Police arbitrarily demolished and burnt the complainants’ houses. During the same period, the ZRP in marked vehicles and lorries ferried personnel who demolished and burnt the complainants’ houses. The lorries had ropes which were tied to houses which were then dragged, thereby ensuring irreparable destruction. During the same period, boom gates were erected at each entry point into the farm thereby limiting the complainants’ right to freedom of movement. 3.3 It is reported that over 100 homes including households with the sick, the elderly and children were demolished and the people were left sleeping outside in the rubble without adequate shelter in the cold and wetness of the rainy season. The demolitions affected the harvesting season as residents had crops in the fields which awaited harvest. The complainants reported that Nyandirwe, Lazy and Rivers are the farms where some of these evicted people had been relocated to. Page 4 of 22