Online Reporter
Yeukai Karengezeka
Court Correspondent
THE Supreme Court of Zimbabwe has put an end to a lengthy legal battle involving the City of Harare and two housing cooperatives over the ownership of residential stands in Kuwadzana Extension.
The court dismissed the City of Harare’s appeal and upheld a High Court judgment that criticised the council for its unlawful and irrational decision to reallocate land from one cooperative to another.
A full bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justice Nicholas Mathonsi, Justice George Chiweshe and Justice Alphas Chitakunye ruled that the City of Harare’s actions lacked merit and amounted to sanctioning an illegality.
The court emphasised that, as an allocating authority, council must exercise its powers within the confines of the law.
The council was ordered to finalise the allocation process for BK Housing Cooperative members and bear the costs of the appeal.
The dispute revolved around a piece of land subdivided into residential stands in Kuwadzana Extension.
In 2017, BK Housing Cooperative Society Limited identified the land and applied to the City of Harare for allocation.
The cooperative’s members were instructed to pay the land’s intrinsic value, along with administrative fees.
By 2019, City of Harare directed A. Derembwe Land Surveyors to survey the land for title registration, a process that cost BK Housing Cooperative members US$30 420.
However, despite this, Harare council later resolved to allocate the land to Herbert Chitepo Housing Cooperative Society, whose members had illegally occupied the stands without documentation or proof of ownership.
