adminFidelis Munyoro-Chief Court Reporter
The delisting of Nyafaru Farm for acquisition as resettlement land is expected to put to rest the long drawn out dispute pitting Nyafaru Development Company (NDC) and Nyafaru High School authorities over control of a timber-rich plantation in Nyanga.
The farm was acquired by the Government at the height land reform, thereby becoming State property by operation of law. However, following protracted protests and legal challenges, the Government has conceded making a mistake in acquiring black-owned land.
Once the legal processes are complete, the title in the land under plantation will revert to NDC as the Government has agreed to remove it from the list of acquired farms.
As it stands, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement has prepared a list of farms formerly owned by indigenous people with a view of restoring their titles. Nyafaru farm is on the list.
However, the delays in de-listing of the farm has left NDC and the School development committee (SDC) embroiled in an acrimonious legal tussle over control of the 717 hectares named Lot 1 of Inyanga.
School head Mr Bernard Maoko is fronting a civil action against NDC. The hearing is set for next week at the High Court.
The bickering has affected the harvesting of the timber that has matured and is due for cutting, amid growing fears of a loss of quality of eucalypt and cypress tree logs by termites’ incursion.
The farm was “erroneously” gazetted by the Government at the height of the land reform programme, according to NDC, through its lawyer, Mr Farai Zuva.
The company was responding to the SDC urgent High Court application to stop NDC from harvesting its timber from the farm arguing that the “illegal” activity was disturbing learning at the school.
In their application, the school authorities are seeking powers to enforce a court order issued in their favour earlier this year, which NDC has since appealed at the Supreme Court.
Mr Zuva said NDC returned to camp in the plantation on the strength of the noting of the appeal. The appeal suspended the lower court’s decision until the outcome of the appeal.
Mr Zuva said the Lands Commission had recommended that the farm be delisted. Mr Zuva said while his clients were waiting the formal delisting, Mr Maoko was manipulating facts in dispute in what he described as an attempt to wrestle the farm from its real owners. He said Government in March 2020 through Manicaland provincial Minister authorised the company to harvest its timber and the company has been operating peacefully ever since.
“It’s amazing how the headmaster or the SDC wants to fight for the timber when their own lease agreement prohibits them from harvesting or selling the timber,” he queried.
“It’s like a tenant in the ground floor fighting for a top floor which they are barred from entering by the landlord.”
Mr Zuva said the company has made submissions to the Ministry of Lands including documentary evidence proving ownership of the farm. He said the school was invited to make their own submissions but they were still to do so because they do not have any evidence.
“So the main point is that the Minister is not really part of this dispute but a decision by the relevant authorities on delisting of the farm should put to rest this long drawn out dispute,” he said adding that the decision was long overdue.
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