[Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters]
eviction of more than 100 villagers in Hwange, which was meant to pave
way for the establishment of a motor-racing course and which could
have displaced them from their ancestral land and ruin their
livelihoods.
Stelix Civils had been granted a lease agreement by Hwange Rural
District Council and was allocated land for the purposes of developing
a Formula One grade motor racing course and proceeded to fence off 500
hectares of land in an area which villagers of villagers of Chibode,
Kachecheti and Nemananga wards use as grazing area for their
livestock.
The motor racing course was to be constructed on land that the
villagers use as grazing land and also use to sustain their
livelihoods.
In the application, the villagers argued that their livelihoods would
be affected as a result of the development of the racing course and
they would not be able to survive in their villages.
The villagers argued that they were not consulted and were not offered
alternative land and hence Stelix Civils’ conduct amounts to arbitrary
eviction, which violates provisions of section 74 of the Constitution.
After being aggrieved by the decision of Hwange Rural District
Council, the more than 100 villagers in three villages of Chibobe,
Kachechete and Nemangwe engaged Josephat Tshuma of Zimbabwe Lawyers
for Human Rights, who on 16 November 2021 filed an application at
Bulawayo High Court to review the decision by Hwange Rural District
Council to allocate 500 hectares of land to Stelix Civils as the
proposed project was taking away a large chunk of their communal land
and effectively taking over their grazing area.
On 15 September 2022, Justice Kabasa ruled that the decision made by
the local authority to allocate 500 hectares of land to Stelix Civils
was unlawful.
The High Court Judge stated that Hwange Rural District Council had no
authority to allocate land to Stelix Civils to establish a racing
course.
Accordingly, Justice Kabasa set aside Hwange Rural District Council’s
decision to grant a lease agreement to Stelix Civils for the
construction of a racing course and declared that any actions and
conduct that had been taken by the local authority following the
granting of a lease agreement to Stelix Civils, are invalid.