Umguza demolitions to be resolved

News
LAWYERS representing Reigate Compound residents and the Umguza Rural District Council (URDC) are set to meet soon to amicably solve the issue of demolitions which started on November 18 last year before being stopped by the High Court two days later.

LAWYERS representing Reigate Compound residents and the Umguza Rural District Council (URDC) are set to meet soon to amicably solve the issue of demolitions which started on November 18 last year before being stopped by the High Court two days later.

SENIOR COURT REPORTER

The residents’ lawyers were contemplating filing a contempt of court case against the local authority after the local authority destroyed toilets at the compound on November 22 in defiance of a High Court order that had been issued four days earlier barring any further demolitions.

Kossam Ncube and Jonathan Tsvangirai from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights are representing the residents.

“Yes, we are organising a roundtable meeting with the URDC and its lawyers to discuss the matter out of court. Most probably, the meeting will be held next week as we try to amicably solve the issue,” Ncube said.

Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Nokuthula Moyo on November 20 issued an interdict barring any further demolitions at the compound without the authority of the court.

That was after residents had rushed to court when the URDC had destroyed seven houses at the compound.

The local authority falls under Transport minister Obert Mpofu’s constituency and his wife, Sikhanyisiwe, was the chairperson before being elected to the National Assembly in last year’s July 31 general elections.

Two days after Justice Moyo issued the order, council workers went back to the compound and destroyed toilets in a move the tenants’ lawyers, Ncube and Tsvangirai described as contempt of court.

The demolitions at Reigate have raised a lot of dust, prompting Mpofu to angrily disown the place saying it was under the Bulawayo City Council, but Bulawayo mayor Martin Moyo distanced his council from the demolitions.

However, evidence at hand shows that the compound falls under Umguza.

There are receipts from the council acknowledging payment of rent by the tenants and occupancy certificates bearing the council’s stamp contained in the High Court record dating back to 2011 when Sikhanyisiwe, was still chairperson.