adminFungai Lupande Senior Court Reporter
A Farming company and the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) are back in court fighting over 156 hectares on the university farm allocated for a joint venture in October 2009.
UZ has been trying since 2011 to get Vegypro (Pvt) Limited off the land and yesterday’s urgent chamber application by Vegypro arose from a second attempt by UZ, made on October 22 this year, to get the company off the farm.
Vegypro now wants UZ to be found in contempt of court, for ignoring a 2017 High Court decision allowing it to keep using the land, and to be interdicted, that is forbidden, from trying to get the company off the land so it can continue peaceful and undisturbed possession.
Vegypro is busy planting parent seed maize on 26ha of the land at a cost of about US$2 million.
If the High Court agrees UZ is in contempt, Vegypro would like to see a fine of $400.
In the joint venture, Vegypro was to use 156 hectares, supplying contracts and securing finance, and the joint venture was not to be dissolved or terminated until all money owed to financial institutions by either party had been fully paid.
In 2011, UZ cancelled the joint venture and invaded the land, says Vegypro. So Vegypro approached the High Court for a declaration that the joint venture could not be cancelled as well as a spoliation order.
The application was granted by Justice Davison Foroma on February 22, 2017.
Vegypro and UZ then resumed their respective roles with minimal interference. But on October 22 this year, UZ wrote a letter to Vegypro again terminating the joint venture and demanding that the company leaves the farm.
Vegypro alleges that on November 15, 2019, UZ invaded the farm again when they had started preparing land for cropping. The company employs over 60 permanent and 300 casual employees who will be rendered jobless if the UZ is “not stopped from its unlawful and contemptuous conduct,” said Vegypro.
Online Reporter