A Gwanda magistrate yesterday dropped charges of malicious damage to property against six villagers involved in a legal wrangle over a piece of land with Home Affairs co-minister Kembo Mohadi’s family in Beitbridge.
The ruling was delivered two weeks after Beitbridge magistrate Gloria Takundwa acquitted three villagers the Mohadis accused of cutting a fence at the disputed farm.
The six, Given Mbedzi, Soforia Ndou, Knowledge Muleya, Alisa Mbedzi, Jameson Mbedzi and Given’s mother Philani Ndou, were facing charges of damaging locks and cutting a fence erected by the minister’s 22-year-old son Campbell Junior at a disputed farm at Jompembe Block.
In his ruling, Gwanda magistrate Innocent Bepura said in view of the facts before the court and High Court judge Justice Kamocha’s judgment, there was no reason for the villagers to continue on remand.
“Justice Kamocha highlighted that the erection of the fence by the complainant was illegal as the complainant had taken the law into his own hands,” Bepura ruled.
“The assumption by the State to prove an offence in this case won’t be relevant as it will be determined by the High Court as to who is the rightful owner of the land.
“There is no need to put them on remand and therefore the accused are removed from remand and if the State feels they now have evidence after the high court determination they can still proceed with the matter.”
The Mohadis and the villagers have been fighting over the piece of land since 2009 and the villagers were arrested in December last year and had been on remand.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Their lawyer Zibusiso Charles Ncube of Phulu Ncube Practitioners made an application for an exception of the charges saying they were “stillborn”.
He argued the villagers could not have been charged for damaging their own property as they were the rightful owners of the land according to Justice Kamocha’s judgment.
“In this view, we are applying for an exception of the charges as the State has no evidence to charge my clients and should wait until the finalisation of the ownership wrangle,” Ncube said.
The State represented by Mazwi Goto opposed the application and called the Matabeleland South province chief lands officer Romeo Mthimkhulu to testify. Mthimkhulu conceded in court that according to their records, the land belonged to the villagers.
Mohadi’s wife, Tambudzani, and son Campbell Junior attended yesterday’s hearing.
