JUSTICE IN ZIMBABWE 31 ____________________________________________________________________ published in the Herald, Erewhon has been allocated jointly to Mrs B Chanetsa, who is the Ombudsman and wife of the Mashonaland West governor Peter Chanetsa, and to another person. All this, it should be noted, occurred despite the fact that the High Court set aside the acquisition orders made in respect of her farm. 46 More recently, in August 2002 several 47 commercial farmers obtained orders from the High Court setting aside the acquisition of their farms under the Land Acquisition Act [Chapter 20:10] on the ground that mortgage-holders had not been notified of the government’s intention to acquire their farms, as required by the Act. The government did not contest these orders, whose effect was to restore to the farmers concerned the right to remain on their farms. The orders did not, however, protect some of the farmers from eviction when they, along with many others in Mashonaland East and West provinces and elsewhere, were directed to leave their farms by noon on Sunday 8 September. 48 It was not clear who issued the directives, but they were served or delivered by teams of policemen. 49 The directives were certainly illegal in so far as they were directed against farmers who had obtained orders nullifying the government’s acquisition of their farms. Ms Simon is one of the farmers who is being evicted. In a further move to nullify the court orders, on 13 September 2002 the government published a Bill50 to amend the Land Acquisition Act retrospectively, validating preliminary notices of acquisition that were served without notice to mortgageholders.51 The Bill will also obviate the need for the government to prove to the Administrative Court that land it has acquired for agricultural resettlement is suitable for that purpose; will increase the penalty that may be imposed on farmers who do not vacate their farms when ordered to do so; and will allow invalid acquisition orders to be reissued, thereby requiring the landowner to vacate the land on seven days’ notice. Prison officers refuse to obey court orders 52 Nine MDC members had been arrested on two counts of murder. They were alleged to have kidnapped and murdered two ZANU (PF) activists, one of whom was Cain