KAROI magistrate Moreblessing Makati on Friday fined Zanu PF Hurungwe East legislator Chenjerai Kangausaru and ordered him to vacate Chitonga Farm he had occupied using forged documents.
Passing the long-awaited sentence after conviction in November last year, Makati handed down a ruling of three months in prison with the option of a US$300 fine.
“The accused (Chenjerai Kangausaru) is hereby fined US$300 or three months in jail. He is also ordered to vacate the gazetted farm (Chitonga subdivision 1) by 30 April 2024,” read the ruling.
Kangausaru was found guilty of using forged offer letters to grab Chitonga Farm in Hurungwe measuring 26ha.
The farm is at the centre of controversy after Kangausaru grabbed it using fake offer letters denying Tichafa Tendayi the chance to occupy the farm. Kangausaru later faced a charge of violating Section 3(1) of the Gazetted Land (Consequential Provisions) Act [Chapter 20:28] referred to as occupation of gazetted land without lawful authority.
Prosecutor Progress Maponde told the court that Kangausaru unlawfully occupied Subdivision 1 of Chitonga Farm in Tengwe area sometime in November 2014.
The State represented by the Hurungwe district lands officer, was the complainant in the matter while Tendayi (54) who resides on sub-division 1 of Chitonga Farm was the informant.
‘‘Tichafa Herbert Vincent Tendayi is one of the beneficiaries and a lawful occupier of sub-division 1 of Chitonga Farm, Tengwe, Hurungwe while one Dube is the second beneficiary,” read court papers.
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‘‘Kangausaru in his unlawful occupation of sub-division 1 of Chitonga Farm, Tengwe, Hurungwe within Mashonaland West province does not hold any tenure document.
“The accused person had no legal right to act in the manner he did. The complainant has a valid offer letter that justifies his occupancy of the disputed piece of land.”
During trial, Kangausaru claimed in his defence that he had an offer letter from the Lands ministry signed by former minister, Douglas Mombeshora, in February 2014.
He submitted two offer letters to the Hurungwe district lands committee which were issued by Mombeshora, but bore different signatures.
According to supporting documents from the Lands ministry, Kangausaru had no official documentation that had a paper trail making his case a typical criminal offence of using forgery to occupy gazetted land.
“The ministry records show that you (Mr Tendayi) are still the beneficiary of subdivision 1 of Chitonga measuring 262 hectares in Hurungwe district. Your offer letter of 3 November 2014 was only withdrawn on 12 March 2015 to correct your initial and surname and a replacement offer letter was done on the same day.
“Chenjerai Kangausaru does not have an offer letter for subdivision 1 of Chitonga, according to ministry records,” said one Cephas Magauze, in a letter presented in court.
Magauze is a former director in the Lands ministry.
Kangausaru won the August elections where he beat Citizens Coalition for Change candidate, Blessing Mandava, and has been staying at the disputed farm for close to 10 years.
