FORMER minister Moses Mzila Ndlovu’s bid to evict a number of illegal settlers who invaded his property last year has suffered a temporary setback after the High Court demanded that he should add more settlers on his application.
ln his application for spoliation order, Ndlovu said he has occupied the farm since 2004 and in August last year one Johanes Zifudze and some other people invaded his property.
Ndlovu cited Zifudze, Agriculture ministry secretary, Agriculture minister, ZRP Figtree commanding officer, the surveyor-general and the Sheriff of the High Court as respondents.
According to the application, Zifudze and other settlers pegged stands on 200 hectares of his 360 3163-hectare Hami Magazine Site Farm last year.
Ndlovu said Zifudze was intending to settle more people on the farm.
High Court judge Justice Mary Zimba-Dube, however, stayed ruling on the matter saying Ndlovu should have joined three other settlers in the application.
“l take the view that the questions whether a spoliation had been committed and whether the applicant has made a case for the order he is seeking cannot be debated without the alleged beneficiaries of the stands being joined in this application.
“This court cannot countenance a situation where a person sits blissfully at home with his family not knowing that in court an argument is raging concerning his eviction from the stand. These persons have a direct and substantial interest in the matter turning on their eviction. They have a right to be heard," Justice Zimba-Dube said.
The judge said she would not proceed with the matter without the other settlers joined in the application.
“Under the common law and in terms of 32(11), the court has the inherent power to order the joinder of further parties in a case which has already begun in order to ensure that persons interested in the subject matter of the dispute and whose rights may be affected by the judgment are before the court.
“The beneficiaries of the stands have a direct and substantial interest in the subject matter of the action, ie a legal interest in the subject matter of the litigation which interest may be prejudicially affected by the judgment of the court,” the judge said.
Justice Zimba-Dube added: “It is their eviction from the stands that is sought. The matter must end here. I have no intention of considering the issue of the material disputes of fact that have been raised in argument. I have also no intention of even considering the merits of the application until such time that all the beneficiaries have been joined to this application."
The former minister was ordered to pay the costs of suit.
In his affidavit, Ndlovu said sometime in June 2023, Zifudze drove to his homestead and informed him that he had decided to peg out pieces of land for a number of settlers.
The former minister submitted that he has it on good authority that some of the beneficiaries are members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police stationed at Figtree. Ndlovu further submitted that one of the stands was allocated to officer-in-charge Matopo Police Station.
In an opposing affidavit, the officer commanding ZRP Figtree submitted that if members of the police stationed at Figtree were allocated land, it was (was done) in their personal capacities, adding that Ndlovu should serve them with the application.