EX-FINANCE minister and former Zanu PF politburo member Ignatius Chombo has regained his Allan Grange Farm in Raffingora after the Supreme Court ruled in his favour in a case in which the government had cancelled his 99-year lease.
The Supreme Court bench overturned a High Court decision which ruled in favour of the government cancelling Chombo's lease in bid to reallocate his estranged wife and Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs and Devolution minister Marian Chombo and other occupants.
The Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement had issued a cancellation notice in 2021, to reallocate a portion of the farm to Chombo’s former wife.
The Supreme Court’s intervention serves as a definitive statement on the limits of executive power over agricultural lands held under long-term leases.
The core of the dispute rested on the interpretation of two specific clauses within the lease agreement.
The government had argued that it had the authority to repossess the land under Clause 20, which allows for re-possession in the interest of public safety, order, or “purposes beneficial to the public.”
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However, Chombo’s legal team, led by Professor Lovemore Madhuku, successfully argued that Clause 22.1 provided the only lawful grounds for lease termination, such as breach of contract or non-payment of rent.
Justice Joseph Musakwa, writing for the bench, found that the High Court had grossly misdirected itself by allowing the lands minister to use Clause 20 as a “catch-all” power.
The court clarified that reallocating land to resolve a private matrimonial dispute between former spouses does not constitute a “public purpose.”
The bench ruled that such an action was deemed an irrational exercise of power that ignored the specific termination procedures agreed upon by both parties.
Furthermore, the court highlighted the significance of a tripartite agreement Chombo had entered into in 2018 with the government and a private investor, Pepary Investments.
The agreement, designed to facilitate long-term investment with a 20-year horizon, was seen by the court as an irrevocable waiver of the government’s right to arbitrarily cancel the lease.
The court noted that Section 17 of the Land Commission Act mandates the State to guarantee security of tenure to promote agricultural development.
By attempting to cancel the lease mid-way through a multi-year investment project, the court ruled that the lands minister not only breached the contract but also undermined the national policy of land-based investment protection.
The bench emphasised that agreements must be kept noting that the state must be held to the same contractual standards as private citizens.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court declared the cancellation illegal, null and void.
The ruling restored Chombo’s full rights to the 3 098-hectare farm and barred the government from subdividing or cancelling the lease for at least 20 years from the date of the tripartite agreement.
The judgment also addressed the “privity of contract,” noting that Marian Chombo, as a third party to the lease, could not use executive intervention to bypass pending judicial determinations regarding matrimonial property.