The Herald reports that at the centre of the dispute in the
High Court was a 40-hectare piece of land within Madzivanyika Village in Buhera
comprising homesteads for more than 35 villagers on one section and grazing
lands and communal fields on the other section.
The land had been sold to Munda Family Trust for the
construction of a boarding school and plans to evict the 35 families were at an
advanced stage. The villagers took the local authority to the High Court
challenging its decision.
Justice Webster Chinamora said :“The
application for a declaratory order be and is hereby granted. The agreement of
sale of 40 hectares of communal land situated in the Madzivanyika Village,
Chief Chitsunge Buhera, entered into between Munda Family Trust and Buhera
Rural District Council dated March 23 2020 be and is hereby declared illegal
and is accordingly cancelled.”
“The first and second respondents (Munda Family Trust and
Mr Pomerai Munda) be and are hereby ordered not to evict any of the villagers
residing at the 40 hectares of communal land.”
The villagers argued that communal land is vested in the
President of Zimbabwe, and the local
authority can only allocate land in line with the customary laws relating to
allocation, occupation and use of communal land.
Justice Chinamora said it was clear that communal land
could not be sold. As a result, the judge ruled that the purported agreement of
sale between the transgressing parties was a nullity, saying Section 9 of the
Communal Land Act was instructive in that regard.
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