THE High Court yesterday ordered the City of Harare (HCC) off public pay toilet operations at Market Square and Mbare Musika.
High Court judge Justice Rogers Manyangadze accused the
local authority of violating terms of the agreement signed with a local company
Disruptive Innovation (Private) Limited.
According to court papers, HCC entered into a private
partnership with the applicant and leased out the public toilets at the
respective bus terminuses in 2015.
The relationship, however, encountered challenges along the
way, and in September 2017, council sought eviction of Disruptive Innovation,
but the parties later found each other and abandoned litigation.
This culminated in a deed of settlement of August 2, 2019.
However, HCC went on to displace the applicant, resulting
in the matter spilling into the courts.
Disruptive Innovation (Private) Limited cited Mbare
district officer, officer commanding Police Mbare district, Trish Mukudu and
Harare Metropolitan provincial development co-ordinator Tafadzwa Muguti as
respondents.
“There was no court document cancelling the parties’ deed
of settlement and ordering the removal of the applicant … the events outlined …
establish dispossession of the applicant of property in respect of which it was
in peaceful and undisturbed possession. They reflect all the essential features
of spoliation,” the judgment read in part.
“What happened was simply a matter of the first respondent
taking the law into its own hands. It dispossessed the applicant, without any
lawful authority, who was in peaceful and undisturbed possession of the said
premises.”
In February, Manyangadze ordered police, Zanu PF members
and the Harare City Council to stop disrupting the company’s operations at Mbare
Musika toilets.
Manyangadze granted a spoliation order stating that
Disruptive Innovation’s business operations should not be interfered with and
should be restored within 48 hours.
The company refurbished the public toilets and has been
charging for use of the facilities since 2015.
At one time, the City of Harare sought to evict the
company, but High Court judge Justice Zimba Dube ruled against council.
Since then, police and Zanu PF activists have been
disrupting the company’s activities to force it out of the deal. Newsday
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