High Court reverses Clipsham settlers eviction

The High Court has quashed the convictions, sentences, and eviction orders against 19 settlers from Clipsham after it found that the land in question was not legally gazetted as State land.

Justice Sunsley Zisengwe, sitting at the High Court in Masvingo, ruled in favour of the settlers following a chamber application in which they asked the court to invoke its review powers. The court concluded that the earlier judgment confirming their eviction was made in error due to a fundamental misunderstanding about the legal status of the land.

The settlers, who have been living on the Clipsham property since 2002, were convicted on February 2, 2024, by Masvingo Provincial Magistrate Farai Gwitima after pleading guilty to illegally occupying State land. Gwitima sentenced them to vacate the land within seven days.

While the settlers did not appeal their conviction at the time, they later approached the High Court to challenge the eviction, successfully gaining more time. However, after the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works issued a memorandum on July 17, 2024, confirming that the land was not gazetted, the families returned to court, this time seeking a review of the entire case.

Justice Zisengwe's review judgment noted that the settlers had entered guilty pleas under a mistaken belief that the land was State land, which was a critical element of the charge against them.

"They were all convicted pursuant to their respective pleas of guilty to the charge. Unbeknown to them, there was no evidence showing that the land in question was gazetted… They labored under the misapprehension that it was," the judge stated.

Citing Rule 29 of the High Court Rules (2021), which allows the court to set aside a judgment made in error, the judge ruled that the court's earlier confirmation of the convictions had been based on a wrong premise.

"The court should have in fact invoked its review powers in terms of section 29(4) of the High Court Act [Chapter 7:06] to set aside the conviction," the judgment reads.

The decision brings a significant reprieve for the 19 families, many of whom have lived on the land for over two decades, and sets a legal precedent for how the courts may handle similar cases where land gazetting status is in dispute.

Legal experts say the ruling underscores the importance of verifying land status in occupation-related cases and strengthens judicial oversight where convictions are found to be based on incorrect or incomplete legal foundations.