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Munacho Mutezo in last ditch to save property
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Former Water Resources and Infrastructural Development Minister Munacho Mutezo will today make a last-ditch attempt to prevent the sale of his Odzi farm, valued at US$750,000, following a High Court filing under case number HCH4070/25.
Mutezo filed an urgent chamber application on Friday at the High Court of Zimbabwe, naming the Sheriff of Zimbabwe and Des Moines Farms (Pvt) Ltd as respondents. The hearing is scheduled before Justice RF Manyangadze at 10:00 am.
The former minister is seeking a suspension of the sale in execution of Fernicary Farm, trading as Rutendo Farm, which was attached in February 2025 following a High Court judgment in favour of Des Moines Farms under case HCH123/22. The judgment required Mutezo to pay US$455,000 or its equivalent in local currency.
Mutezo contends that the property is in dispute through interpleader proceedings under case HCH1570/25 and that a default judgment granted in his absence on July 30, 2025, is being challenged in an application for rescission currently pending under case HCH3802/25. He argues that the Sheriff's planned sale prejudices his claim and would render the court's eventual decision in his favour futile. "The application is urgent and cannot wait in that there is a pending application for rescission of the default judgment which deals with his rights as well as the second respondent's, yet the first respondent is proceeding with the sale in execution, rendering the applicant's claim futile," Mutezo stated in his filing.
The former minister learned of the impending sale on August 14 and promptly instituted the urgent chamber application. The auction had been scheduled to start at 10:00 am last Friday.
Des Moines Farms, represented by director Philemon Matibe, opposed the application, arguing that Mutezo's claim of urgency is self-created. Matibe said the judgment in the main matter was handed down in November 2024, the property was attached in February 2025, and that Mutezo could have acted earlier. "Urgency which stems from a deliberate or careless abstention from action until the deadline draws near is not the type of urgency contemplated by the rules," Matibe argued. He added that a settlement proposal from Mutezo's lawyers last Thursday was rejected, describing it as "a mockery."
The High Court is expected to rule on whether to suspend the sale pending determination of the rescission application.
Mutezo filed an urgent chamber application on Friday at the High Court of Zimbabwe, naming the Sheriff of Zimbabwe and Des Moines Farms (Pvt) Ltd as respondents. The hearing is scheduled before Justice RF Manyangadze at 10:00 am.
The former minister is seeking a suspension of the sale in execution of Fernicary Farm, trading as Rutendo Farm, which was attached in February 2025 following a High Court judgment in favour of Des Moines Farms under case HCH123/22. The judgment required Mutezo to pay US$455,000 or its equivalent in local currency.
Mutezo contends that the property is in dispute through interpleader proceedings under case HCH1570/25 and that a default judgment granted in his absence on July 30, 2025, is being challenged in an application for rescission currently pending under case HCH3802/25. He argues that the Sheriff's planned sale prejudices his claim and would render the court's eventual decision in his favour futile. "The application is urgent and cannot wait in that there is a pending application for rescission of the default judgment which deals with his rights as well as the second respondent's, yet the first respondent is proceeding with the sale in execution, rendering the applicant's claim futile," Mutezo stated in his filing.
The former minister learned of the impending sale on August 14 and promptly instituted the urgent chamber application. The auction had been scheduled to start at 10:00 am last Friday.
Des Moines Farms, represented by director Philemon Matibe, opposed the application, arguing that Mutezo's claim of urgency is self-created. Matibe said the judgment in the main matter was handed down in November 2024, the property was attached in February 2025, and that Mutezo could have acted earlier. "Urgency which stems from a deliberate or careless abstention from action until the deadline draws near is not the type of urgency contemplated by the rules," Matibe argued. He added that a settlement proposal from Mutezo's lawyers last Thursday was rejected, describing it as "a mockery."
The High Court is expected to rule on whether to suspend the sale pending determination of the rescission application.
Source - Newsday
