In Mhondoro Ngezi, land occupations started in earnest as symbolic manoeuvres by war veterans protesting against local grievances of rural poverty and landlessness during the so-called jambanja era (Chaumba et al. 2003). The first core group of the war veterans arrived at the Damvuri conservancy in 2000 led by two war veteran leaders, Comrade (Cde) Jongwe and Cde Hunidzananaiwa. Cde Jongwe came from the Bandawe old resettlement area near the Damvuri conservancy while Cde Hunidzananaiwa is believed to have come from Sanyati. They both belonged to the local Kadoma chapter of the Zimbabwe National Liberation and War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA). The war veterans were later joined by people from the old resettlement schemes bordering the Damvuri conservancy and also by residents of the nearby Mhondoro Ngezi Communal Area (CA) and others from areas further away such as Sanyati and Gokwe.

An important dynamic of land occupations in Mhondoro Ngezi which is worth noting is that they did not follow the popularized jambanja style, which in some places involved violent confrontation between war veteran-led peasants and the white land owners during the watershed moments of 2000 (Hammar et al. 2003). Instead, these land occupations were relatively peaceful and the war veterans who occupied the conservancy were forced to observe law and order before the conservancy was officially demarcated into A1 plots. The reason for the absence of jambanja can be attributed to the fact that the district administrator (DA) in Kadoma was involved at the early stages of the occupation. The DA is believed to have been approached by the owner of the Damvuri conservancy who requested time to move his property from the occupied land before it was distributed. Thus, the DA is said to have ordered war veterans not to interfere with the farmer's property.

The way land seekers came to the occupied conservancy is another important dynamic of the Damvuri land occupations. Although a few people joined the war veterans who had camped at the conservancy in 2000, a large number of people who were officially allocated plots had formally registered with the DA in Kadoma before moving to the conservancy. Most land seekers from far off areas such as Gokwe did not join the occupation but camped first at the DA's office where they were ‘processed’ before being transported to the occupied conservancy.