The Supreme Court has blocked the government from seizing exiled former cabinet minister Jonathan Moyo’s farm in Mazowe.
Below is a nterim order granted in favour of Moyo on Monday reads:
Until a final decision relating to the rights of the parties can be made by this court under case number HC 290/20, or the return date of this application, whichever happens sooner, the state of occupation by applicants in respect of the remainder of Patterson Farm in Mazowe shall not be interfered with by the respondents, its employees or assigns.
The former Minister of Information and Publicity lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court after High Court judge Justice Esther Muremba had dismissed his application.
Justice Muremba said Beatrice, who filed the founding affidavit, had no legal standing in the matter because the offer letter was issued to her husband.
Her lawyers disagreed, arguing that she was an applicant in the pending application for review and was entitled to “protect the integrity of an application in which she is a party.”
In the review application, Moyo and his wife are challenging the compulsory acquisition of their 623-hectare farm, which they bought for Z$6 million (US$105 400 at the time) from the government in 2002.
Moyo’s lawyer Advocate Thabani Mpofu, instructed by Chris Mhike, argues that the seizure of the farm is not only unlawful but also “motivated by extraneous reasons that are political and mala fide.”
Moyo fled to Kenya soon after the November 2017 military coup that overthrew then-President, Robert Mugabe. He said his life was in danger.
