Tinaye Agere
Nyore Madzianike
A MUTARE businessman has lost his bid to evict Chief Zimunya and his 1 146 subjects from their area in Mutare after the High Court dismissed his application and ruled that the people were legally settled by the Government.
Borniface Nyamanhindi, through his company Nyamanhindi Investments (Pvt) Limited, approached the High Court seeking eviction of Chief Zimunya and his subjects claiming ownership of the land through a title deed.
He claimed ownership of land known as The Grange and Grove Farms.
Nyamanhindi Investments cited Chief Zimunya, born Kibben Bvirindi, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development Minister and Local Government and Public Works Minister as defendants.
The matter was heard before Mutare judge justice Isaac Muzenda.
Chief Zimunya told the court that he heard from his father that in 1945 the colonial government forced Zimunya people to vacate their ancestral lands to make way for a white settler and went to settle at what is called 30 Miles Area.
The settlers then later named their ancestral land The Grange and Grove Farms.
After independence, the Chief approached the new Government to allow Zimunya people to retrace the trek back to their land of origin.
A lot of negotiations followed and the Government granted Zimunya people permission to re-occupy the area as far back as 1985.
He said during that resettlement the then owners of the land did not offer any resistance.
In response to growing population, the Government built schools, service centres, health and business people erected shops, modern houses followed with piped water and electricity and it has been named kwaZimunya.
Upon his installation, the Government built a state-of-the-art modern traditional courtroom.
The court heard that in 1992 the previous owners of the farm sold the property to Nyamanhindi Investments and obtained a title deed-No.5547/92.
On 16 October 2019 the High Court granted an order in default of Ministry of Lands under case no. 7719/19, effectively ordering restoration of title to Nyamanhindi Investments and ordering further the cancellation of the caveat by the Registrar of Deeds.
After obtaining the court order, Nyamanhindi Investments approached the Minister of Lands to negotiate the removal of the people from the farm.
Chief Zimunya resisted saying they were occupying Nevada Tobacco Estate and not Grove Farm as being claimed.
Justice Muzenda agreed with him and dismissed Nyamanhindi’s application.
Online Reporter