THE High Court yesterday ordered Zanu PF Seke Member of Parliament Phineas Chihota to vacate a Mashonaland East farm he had seized from a Harare woman, Florence Sigudu, and allowed the latter to take immediate occupation of the farm. REPORT BY CHARLES LAITON SENIOR COURT REPORTER
In his ruling, High Court judge Justice Bharat Patel said Sigudu had a valid offer letter for the land, adding there was no proper statutory basis for the creation or termination of rights granted by government offer letters.
Chihota took over Denby Farm located in Seke district after the Ministry of Lands had withdrawn Sigudu’s offer letter accusing her of being unproductive and failing to occupy the farm within the requisite three months.
Justice Patel also nullified the consolidation of subdivision 2 and 9 of Denby Farm that was done by officials from the Ministry of Lands.
“Their basis is essentially administrative and their existence or otherwise is consequently subject to purely administrative rules and discretion which must, of course, be exercised lawfully, reasonably and fairly, but which are unavoidably open to the possibility of abuse and malpractice,” he said.
“It seems to me that the administration and allocation of land for resettlement purposes, whatever the modality or form of allocation, should be properly and effectively regulated so as to create a land allocation regime that is clear, transparent and accountable and susceptible to judiciary scrutiny to ensure due process and compliance.”
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Sigudu, who was the applicant in the matter, acquired the farm under the government’s land redistribution programme in 2002 in terms of the Agricultural Land Resettlement Act, but lost it in 2005 after her offer letter was automatically withdrawn by government.