Mugabe minister loses court battle over land

Former Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development Minister Nyasha Chikwinya has lost a High Court case over a disputed 150.27-hectare property in Goromonzi District, with the court ordering her eviction and declaring her offer letter invalid.

The land, known as the remainder of Glen Forest of Borrowdale Estate, was initially gazetted for urban development in 2003 and allocated to the Mama Mafuyana Housing Co-operative by the Ministry of Local Government. Development plans for residential stands were later approved for the site.

However, in a conflicting allocation, the Lands Ministry also issued Chikwinya an offer letter for the same land for agricultural purposes under the land reform programme, resulting in a prolonged legal dispute.

The housing co-operative approached the High Court seeking to have Chikwinya's offer letter declared invalid, to affirm their ownership rights, and to secure her eviction from the land. During the course of the dispute, the parties reportedly reached an agreement in which Chikwinya would receive an alternative 84.027-hectare piece of land as compensation, on condition that she relinquish her claim to the original property.

Despite the agreement, the co-operative alleged that Chikwinya failed to vacate the land and instead retained possession, while also benefiting from the compensatory allocation. The co-operative further claimed that she used political influence to secure an order directing them to vacate.

In her defence, Chikwinya argued that part of her land had been encroached upon, leaving her with only a portion of the original allocation, and maintained that the compensation was intended to replace what she had lost.

However, submissions from the Lands Ministry contradicted her position, stating that the land, being in an urban area, fell under the jurisdiction of the Local Government Ministry and that her original offer letter had been cancelled.

High Court Judge Rogers Manyangadze ruled in favour of the co-operative, finding that Chikwinya's testimony was inconsistent and lacked credibility, while the co-operative's evidence was clear and reliable.

The judge also referenced a previous case, noting that Chikwinya had failed to disclose that she had already received alternative land as compensation when she challenged the cancellation of her offer letter. He said this omission demonstrated bad faith.

In his ruling, the judge concluded that Chikwinya had benefited from the change in land use and could not subsequently contest the cancellation of her allocation. The court declared her offer letter invalid, ordered her immediate eviction from the property, and directed her to pay the legal costs of the case.

The judgment brings closure to a long-running dispute over one of Goromonzi's prime land parcels, underscoring the legal complexities surrounding land allocation and overlapping claims in Zimbabwe's land administration system.