KAROI magistrate Moreblessing Makati on Friday fined Zanu PF Hurungwe East legislator Chenjerai Kangausaru and ordered him to vacate Chitonga Farm he had occupied using forged documents.
Passing the
long-awaited sentence after conviction in November last year, Makati handed
down a ruling of three months in prison with the option of a US$300 fine.
“The accused (Chenjerai Kangausaru) is hereby fined US$300
or three months in jail. He is also ordered to vacate the gazetted farm
(Chitonga subdivision 1) by 30 April 2024,” read the ruling.
Kangausaru was found guilty of using forged offer letters
to grab Chitonga Farm in Hurungwe measuring 26ha.
The farm is at the centre of controversy after Kangausaru
grabbed it using fake offer letters denying Tichafa Tendayi the chance to
occupy the farm. Kangausaru later faced a charge of violating Section 3(1) of
the Gazetted Land (Consequential Provisions) Act [Chapter 20:28] referred to as
occupation of gazetted land without lawful authority.
Prosecutor Progress Maponde told the court that Kangausaru
unlawfully occupied Subdivision 1 of Chitonga Farm in Tengwe area sometime in
November 2014.
The State represented by the Hurungwe district lands
officer, was the complainant in the matter while Tendayi (54) who resides on
sub-division 1 of Chitonga Farm was the informant.
‘‘Tichafa Herbert
Vincent Tendayi is one of the beneficiaries and a lawful occupier of
sub-division 1 of Chitonga Farm, Tengwe, Hurungwe while one Dube is the second
beneficiary,” read court papers.
‘‘Kangausaru in his
unlawful occupation of sub-division 1 of Chitonga Farm, Tengwe, Hurungwe within
Mashonaland West province does not hold any tenure document.
“The accused person had no legal right to act in the manner
he did. The complainant has a valid offer letter that justifies his occupancy
of the disputed piece of land.”
During trial, Kangausaru claimed in his defence that he had
an offer letter from the Lands ministry signed by former minister, Douglas
Mombeshora, in February 2014.
He submitted two offer letters to the Hurungwe district
lands committee which were issued by Mombeshora, but bore different signatures.
According to supporting documents from the Lands ministry,
Kangausaru had no official documentation that had a paper trail making his case
a typical criminal offence of using forgery to occupy gazetted land.
“The ministry records show that you (Mr Tendayi) are still
the beneficiary of subdivision 1 of Chitonga measuring 262 hectares in Hurungwe
district. Your offer letter of 3 November 2014 was only withdrawn on 12 March
2015 to correct your initial and surname and a replacement offer letter was
done on the same day.
“Chenjerai Kangausaru does not have an offer letter for
subdivision 1 of Chitonga, according to ministry records,” said one Cephas
Magauze, in a letter presented in court.
Magauze is a former director in the Lands ministry.
Kangausaru won the August elections where he beat Citizens
Coalition for Change candidate, Blessing Mandava, and has been staying at the
disputed farm for close to 10 years.
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