MARTIN MAWAYA
MVUMA-The Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) Officer Commanding Midlands Province, Commissioner Somemore Gate, and a senior officer from Josiah Magama Tongogara Airbase, Stanford Ncube, have been reported to the police for alleged malicious damage to property after they tilled over a growing maize crop at S/D 43 Mahamara Farm in Mvuma.
The report was filed under RRB5909845 at Mvuma Police Station yesterday by Patrick Cheza.
Cheza accused the two senior officers of ploughing his field despite a pending High Court case in which the businessman is seeking a declaratur and consequential relief over the same piece of land.
The confrontation erupted shortly after the Ministry of Lands released the official extract of the lands register in compliance with a High Court order.
The lands register extract, seen by The Midweek Watch, contains 84 beneficiaries and confirms Cheza as a beneficiary for S/D 43.
Cheza has since approached the High Court under Section 14 of the High Court Act, arguing that the register entry gives him prima facie legal authority to occupy and work on the 125 hectare plot.
He alleges that the two officers unlawfully destroyed his crop and interfered with ongoing operations on the farm, where he has invested more than US$200 000.
According to his founding affidavit, filed under case number HCMSCS 24/25, Cheza applied for the land in 2018, received confirmation of occupation from the district lands officer, and paid all statutory obligations to the Chirumanzu Rural District Council, including levies, development charges, and rentals.
He says he also paid additional rentals in 2023 and expanded production to include cattle, goats, sheep, crop farming, and staff accommodation for more than 50 workers.
The dispute escalated in February 2024 when Ministry of Lands agents reportedly entered the property and began re‑pegging the farm with the intention of reallocating it to members of the Joint Operations Command (JOC).
Cheza sought an urgent interdict, which was dismissed by the High Court, a decision later upheld by the Supreme Court after judges ruled that he had not attached the extract of the lands register to prove lawful occupation.
He argues that the release of the extract now alters the legal position and establishes an existing right, as the Land Commission Act recognizes entries in the official register as proof of lawful occupation of State land.
Cheza said Gate and Ncube’s recent entry onto the property allegedly with tractors and instructions to begin “land preparations” amounts to unlawful interference and destruction of investment while the matter is before the courts.
Efforts to get a comment from Commissioner Gate were unsuccessful, as his phone went unanswered by the time of posting the story.
The High Court is expected to determine whether Cheza’s register for listing constitutes sufficient lawful authority to protect his occupation of the disputed farm.
