The nine namely Simplisiyo Mugorongi, Wetsi Chibamure,
Gladys Mugorongi, Benjamin Dzimbanhete, Thomas Dzimbanhete, Dzingira Chipatiso,
Tichaona Tazvivinga, Lameck Makanda and Farai Tauya are the few lucky ones
among victims of the shambolic operation that saw government cracking down on
alleged illegal settlers and land barons across the country leading to the
arrest and eviction of many.
According to a High Court document, the appellants were
charged wrongly and the conviction was set aside invalidating the sentence.
“It is ordered by consent that, the appellants were
charged, convicted and sentenced under a wrong provision of the law. The
conviction in respect of all appellants is set aside and the sentence is
quashed.
“The Prosecutor General has the discretion to proceed with
the matter under the appropriate law if he or she so desires,’ reads the court
order.
The nine were convicted after a full trial at Masvingo
magistrates’ court on February 13 for occupying gazetted land and were
sentenced to three months imprisonment which and the sentence was wholly
suspended on condition that they vacate their homes of more than 20 years on or
before March 31 of the same year.
Unsatisfied with the court order the group appealed at the
magistrates’ court which was in vain and made an appeal to the high court
through their human rights lawyer Yolander Chandata after which they were
granted a suspension order.
The matter appeared before Justice Sunsley Zisengwe based
on the ruling of the magistrate to the effect that the nine appellants were
illegal settlers because they did not have the required paperwork which is the
permit, lease, or offer letter.
They argued that the court had erred in that the appellants
were not illegal settlers in the strict sense of the matter but were people who
had been settling on the land for more than 20 years and were making payments
to the relevant local authority during their stay on the particular land.
Further to that the law which was said to have been
violated by the appellants was not the best to tackle the matter as they were
being charged with contravening the Gazetted Land Act. The gazette that was
produced by the court was a 1982 gazette but then the Act which they were said
to have contravened was a 2006 Act hence in legal terms they cannot be charged
with an offense that is said to have happened before the Act became law which
is more of applying the law in retrospect.
The nine are some of the people who had lifetime
investments going on at their homes where they were being evicted from as they
had structures, houses, boreholes, and other viable projects as most were
farmers.
In Masvingo province alone about 2 200 arrests were made
with over 590 convictions made. TellZimNews
0 comments:
Post a Comment