FORMER Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development minister Nyasha Chikwinya has lost a legal battle against a housing co-operative over a prime piece of land in Goromonzi district, with the High Court ordering her eviction and declaring her offer letter invalid.
The dispute was centred on a 150,27-hectare property, known as the remainder of Glen Forest of Borrowdale Estate.
The land was gazetted for urban development in 2003 and officially allocated to the Mama Mafuyana Housing Co-operative by the Local Government ministry for that purpose.
The Department of Physical Planning subsequently approved layout plans for residential stands on the property.
However, in June 2003, the Lands ministry offered the same piece of land to Chikwinya for agricultural use under government’s land reform programme.
This double allocation sparked a protracted dispute that eventually landed in court.
The co-operative approached the High Court seeking to have Chikwinya’s offer letter declared invalid and to affirm the validity of their title.
They also sought an order for her eviction and payment of costs of suit.
The co-operative cited Chikwinya, the Lands minister and the Local Government minister as respondents.
Following negotiations between the parties, an agreement was reached that Chikwinya will be compensated with a 84,027-hectare piece of land adjacent to the co-operative’s property.
The agreement meant Chikwinya was required to relinquish her claim to the land in question.
Despite the agreement, the co-operative alleged that Chikwinya did not vacate the land.
In a twist, the co-operative claimed she used political influence to have the Local Government ministry order them to vacate instead.
They further alleged that Chikwinya remained in possession of the original land in addition to the 84,027-hectare compensatory plot.
In her defence, Chikwinya argued that the co-operative had invaded 100 hectares of her land, leaving her with only about 40 hectares.
She maintained the land was offered to her as Subdivision 26 of Pilgrims Rest for resettlement and that the compensation offer was for the portion she had lost.
However, the Lands ministry’s submissions contradicted Chikwinya’s position.
The ministry stated that because the land was situated in an urban area, it was handed over to the Local Government ministry.
The ministry confirmed that it cancelled Chikwinya’s original offer letter.
High Court judge Justice Rogers Manyangadze found the co-operative’s chairperson to be a “clear, coherent, and consistent” witness, while noting that Chikwinya’s testimony was “marred with contradictions and inconsistency in crucial respects”.
The judge pointed to a previous High Court case (Nyasha Chikwinya v Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement & Ors HH 545/23), where Chikwinya sought to review the cancellation of her offer letter.
In that matter, she failed to disclose to the court that she had already received the 84,027-hectare property as compensation.
“The fact that the applicant conveniently avoided disclosing that she was allocated another piece of land as compensation for the land she apparently lost attests to the mala fides [bad faith] with which this application was made,” Justice Manyangadze said.
He further noted that the land had ceased to be agricultural land and that Chikwinya herself was part of the process that led to the change of status.
“She benefited from the change of use. She cannot, therefore, seek to challenge the cancellation of her offer letter when she allegedly benefited from the change of use of the same land,” the judge ruled.
Justice Manyangadze declared Chikwinya’s offer letter invalid and ordered her immediate eviction from the land.
She was also ordered to pay the costs of the suit.