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Court stops compulsory acquisition of Crest Breeders' land

by Staff reporter
18 Nov 2013 at 16:56hrs | Views
The Labour Court has stopped the government from compulsorily acquiring over 1000 hectares of land belonging to Crest Breeders International.

In a judgement handed down by Labour Court President, Justice Herbert Mandeya, the Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement's acquisition order issued on the 13th of May 2013 was declared null and void and was set aside.

The minister was also ordered to bear legal costs of the suit.

In his founding affidavit, written on the 28th of June this year, the former Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement, Herbert Murerwa had stated that the acquisition of the 1057 hectares of land located at Saturday Retreat Estate in Harare was necessary for urban expansion and development purposes.

He also said the government wanted to acquire about 33 000 hectares of land to provide land to citizens as Harare has the capacity to accommodate only 300 000 people but over 2 million people are now resident in the city.

CFI Holdings Limited, which owns Crest Breeders International opposed the acquisition on the basis it had never consented to the acquisition as published in the government gazette under general notice 222 of 20134 and the Herald newspaper dated 19 April 2013, as there was no concrete plan for the development of land by the government and there were no necessary consultations with treasury regarding compensation.

It further argued that it is an indigenous company with only 12 percent of its shareholders being foreign investors and employs over 600 employees.  

Source - zbc