Online Reporter
Fidelis Munyoro
Chief Court Reporter
THE excavator came crawling down the hillside, its metal arm reaching into the earth as if it had found something worth tearing apart.
Below it, the wetland lay deceptively quiet.
Water trickled through the grass. The natural drainage system wound through the landscape, feeding the headwaters of the Umwinsi River and, downstream, the Nyagui and Mazowe river systems. Then came the trench.
And with it, a fight that has now moved from the dusty earth of Glen Lorne into the High Court.
What began as a battle over a perimeter wall has exploded into a confrontation between 26 upmarket residents, led by prominent businessman Shingi Mutasa, and Chinese-owned property developer Zhuomu International (Pvt) Ltd. At stake is not merely a wall or a cluster of houses.
It is the future of a 9.2-hectare tract of Glen Lorne where Zhuomu wants to build 89 cluster homes and the fate of a wetland the residents say should never have been touched.
The residents allege that construction has crossed into an environmentally protected portion of the property.
The developer says: prove it.
That single challenge now lies at the centre of the dispute. The residents’ version of events reads almost like a slow-motion environmental alarm. According to Mutasa’s founding affidavit, residents began watching development activity at Stand 4717 with growing concern. On August 5, 17 and 18, they allegedly observed grading and levelling near the Umwinsi River.
Then came August 24.
Mutasa says residents watched a JCB excavator move down a slope and begin digging a trench for a perimeter wall along Lytham Road.
The following day, according to the affidavit, the machine was allegedly used to trench across a minor stream flowing towards a dam on neighbouring property.
More trenching followed.
Then came wall construction.
To the residents, the machinery was not simply preparing a construction site. It was changing the landscape.
“Continued trenching, excavation, foundation work, wall construction, grading and dumping may materially alter the wetland and drainage environment,” Mutasa warned in his affidavit.
He says the consequences could have “severe ecological ramifications”.
The residents fear that once the machines finish their work, the damage may be impossible to reverse.
Zhuomu’s project is no small suburban extension. The developer intends to transform the 9.2-hectare property into an 89-unit cluster housing development.
For the developer, it is a valuable piece of real estate. For the residents, however, the property’s location makes it something altogether different.
They argue that part of the land falls within a wetland system whose environmental significance extends beyond the boundaries of Stand 4717.
They say the Umwinsi headwaters ultimately feed the Nyagui and Mazowe rivers, raising concerns about the effects of development on downstream communities and ecosystems.
Mutasa puts the argument starkly.
“The damage caused would not affect only the Applicants but also potentially thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of other people who live along the Umwinsi, Nyagui, and Mazowe Rivers,” he says. There is a remarkable point on which the warring sides agree.
Zhuomu does not deny that its Environmental Impact Assessment certificate restricts development to a specified non-wetland portion of the property.
The certificate, issued by the Environmental Management Agency on May 6, is valid until May 6, 2028.
The developer accepts that the restriction is binding.
But that is where the agreement ends.
Zhuomu says the residents have not established that the works complained of were actually carried out inside the restricted zone.
The company wants evidence: a proper survey, verified technical measurements, precise mapping — something that can show beyond assertion that the trench, wall, boreholes or earthworks crossed the prohibited line.
That makes the legal battle potentially as much about surveying equipment and coordinates as environmental law.
The residents’ case is bolstered by evidence from environmental expert Dr Rob Cunliffe.
According to the court papers, Dr Cunliffe visited the property on July 9 and reported seeing grading, clearing, fencing, earth-moving machinery and drilled boreholes.
His assessment, relied upon by the residents, raises concerns about the potential impact of development on groundwater recharge, runoff and the broader wetland ecosystem.
The residents argue that roads, roofs and paved surfaces could alter the natural movement of water through the landscape.
The residents’ case refers to 452 written objections submitted to the City of Harare concerning the development.
The residents launched an urgent High Court application seeking to stop the disputed works.
Earlier this week, Justice Samuel Deme granted an interim order by consent stopping works in the disputed area while the matter proceeds.
The parties are also exploring an out-of-court settlement.
