PG GOES TO COURT : I WILL STOP LAND BARONS

The Prosecutor- General (PG), Justice Loyce Matanda-Moyo, has approached the High Court seeking an order to reclaim and protect State land that has been lying idle and unclaimed since independence and was being unlawfully targeted for illegal settlements and sales by land barons.

The application, lodged through head of the Asset Forfeiture Unit Mr Chris Mutangadura, seeks a declaratory order for the State to secure and superintend parcels of land whose ownership has never been established after the former title holders left the country at independence.

It is envisaged that this move will boost the Government’s ongoing clampdown on illegal land dealings.

Among the targeted properties is a prime piece of land in Waterfalls, Harare, registered in 1977 as Induna Township 6 of Lot 10, which has reportedly attracted the attention of land barons due to its unclear status.

According to court papers, the PG’s intervention followed a tip-off from a whistle-blower about the property, prompting her office to investigate its ownership.

The PG obtained a copy of the Surveyor-General’s diagram and approached the Registrar of Deeds in January 2022 to determine if the land was privately owned or held by any entity.

Investigations revealed that no title deed had ever been issued for the land, confirming that it remains unclaimed and unoccupied.

Further inquiries by the police uncovered that the City of Harare had no record of the land’s allocation, producing only a 1976 document showing that the property had been surveyed and earmarked for development — without specifying a beneficiary.

In her application, Justice Matanda-Moyo said it was her constitutional mandate, under Section 258, to prosecute individuals targeting State land.

“It is, therefore, clear that the applicant, under Section 258 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, is mandated by law to discharge any functions that are necessary or incidental to such prosecutions of persons who have set their eyes on the idle land which, for all intents and purposes, belongs to the State,” reads the application.

In Zimbabwe, land ownership is classified into several categories — urban or town land held through title deeds, rural district land managed through leases or permits, agricultural land under title deeds and communal land under the administration of traditional leaders.

“The land in question is not specific as to who owns it and the supposed owner. The State is mired in ignorance as to who between itself and the Harare City Council controls the land. Neither is the land in possession or occupation by anyone,” reads part of the petition. Sunday Mail

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