The Constitutional Court docket (ConCourt) has dominated in favour of Umvutcha farmer Alistair Michael Fletcher, overturning a Supreme Court docket determination that had upheld caveats positioned on his property by the Lands ministry.
Fletcher, represented by lawyer Bruce Masamvu of Masamvu and Da Silva-Gustavo Regulation Chambers, approached the ConCourt below case quantity CCZ 19/24 after the Supreme Court docket quashed a Excessive Court docket judgment that had ordered the removing of caveats endorsed on his Umguza Agricultural Plenty of Umvutcha and Reigate farm.
The ConCourt bench, in a ruling delivered on July 29 by Justice Ben Hlatshwayo, discovered that Fletcher’s constitutional rights had been violated when his land was handled as agricultural property regardless of being labeled as city.
“In bringing this enchantment, the appellant argued that the order of the court docket a quo violated his proper to make use of, maintain, switch and never be compulsorily disadvantaged of his property below part 71(2)-(3), and his proper to equal safety and good thing about the regulation below part 56 of the Structure of Zimbabwe,” stated Justice Hlatshwayo.
The decide famous that the Bulawayo Metropolis Council and the provincial planning officer had confirmed the land’s city classification, but the state sought to compulsorily purchase it below laws relevant to agricultural land.
“By failing to use the right authorized requirements governing city land, the court docket successfully denied the appellant the safety afforded to city property house owners,” Justice Hlatshwayo dominated. “This inconsistency subjected him to a authorized regime not meant for his property and infringed his proper to equal safety of the regulation.”
The ConCourt additional dominated that part 16B of the Structure—which ousts courts from listening to challenges to obligatory acquisition of agricultural land—didn’t apply to Fletcher’s case as a result of his land was city, not agricultural.
Because of this, the court docket reinstated the sooner Bulawayo Excessive Court docket ruling by Justice Christopher Dube Banda of June 8, 2023, which had ordered the Lands minister to cancel caveats endorsed on Fletcher’s title deed (3188/83) and to pay prices.
The dispute dates again to 2000, when Fletcher’s land was listed in a Authorities Gazette discover for obligatory acquisition. The Lands ministry subsequently induced the endorsement of a number of caveats on his property. Fletcher challenged the endorsements within the Excessive Court docket, which initially dominated in his favour. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court docket – comprising Justices Elizabeth Gwaunza, Susan Mavangira and George Chiweshe – later overturned that ruling, prompting the enchantment to the ConCourt.
In his ultimate order, Justice Hlatshwayo declared Fletcher’s enchantment profitable, put aside the Supreme Court docket’s ruling, and confirmed that the state had no authorized foundation to deal with the land as agricultural for acquisition functions.
