Over 10 000 families who illegally settled on Chitungwiza’s Nyatsime area, or who built illegal structures after being legally assigned stands, now face eviction and demolition of their houses after the Administrative Court agreed this week that the council was acting correctly in demanding documentary evidence from residents that they were on the land legally.
The court ruling only applies to the Chitungwiza
Municipality’s demand for the documentary evidence that each resident was
properly allocated the stand they occupy and that the buildings erected were
built in accordance with the bylaws.
The Administrative Court made it clear that before anyone
could be evicted, or any building demolished, the appropriate court order had
to be obtained.
The whole settlement of Braemer and Longlands farms (now
collectively known as Nyatsime) is covered in confusion and illegality.
Some were allocated the stands by council and paid for
them, but then built houses and other structures without council approval;
others just settled on the land without any approval and erected structures
without council authority; a third group fell prey to land barons and parted
with substantial amounts of money although the land belongs to council.
The area does not have sewer lines, nor is there a water
supply. There are no roads and the area is inaccessible during the rainy
season.
Four months ago, council issued a notice ordering the
residents to produce documents confirming their legal rights and warned of
impending demolition of structures illegally built in the area and eviction of
illegal settlers.
Trustees of the Nyatsime Beneficiaries Association Trust,
appealed the order at the Administrative Court, which ruled this week that
council’s decision was above board, paving way for council to institute
eviction and demolition proceedings against all illegal occupants.
In the February 2021 notice, council gave the settlers up
to a month to produce their offer letters, approved lease agreements, valid
service clearance certificates, approved site plans, signed surveyor general’s
diagrams, approved and valid building plans, copies of peg forms and copies of
stage forms showing all the stages of building were approved.
If anyone was above board and has been following procedures
they would have had these documents at hand.
Administrative Court judge Justice Hebert Mandeya ruled
that the families did not comply with the urban planning laws but he stressed
that the possibility of eviction will only arise when the occupants fail to
produce documentation proving they are legally on the land.
He said eviction and demolitions will arise when the
occupants fail to produce documents showing their developments were approved by
council.
Justice Mandeya also emphasised that council should first
obtain eviction orders for the occupants before demolishing or ordering them
off the land.
The requirements set out in the Regional, Town and Country
Planning Act were valid and reasonable from a town planning point of view, said
the judge.
As the local planning authority, the council was duty-bound
to ensure that developments made in its area of jurisdiction were done
legitimately; hence the insistence on validity and approval.
The court noted that the council had promised to obtain all required court orders before ordering any demolitions or any removals.
Matsikidze Attorneys represented Chitungwiza Municipality
while Kamdefwere Law Chambers acted for the residents.
In the dismissed appeal, the trustees argued that most of
the members were allocated the stands by council but they went on to build
after council failed to service the stands.
In all the instances, therefore the enforcement order and
or any prohibition order issued or to be issued has no valid or justifiable
cause but is only a result of the respondent’s own administrative shortcomings,
failure to service the area and is motivated by bias, unreasonableness,
entrenched interests and corruption, reads part of the notice of appeal.
They also argued that the order issued by council does not
distinguish between those who illegally settled on the land and those who had
duly applied for stands and were allocated through leases. Herald
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