51 farm labourers fight new owner

THE Constitutional Court (ConCourt) is next month expected to preside over a legal wrangle where 51 former labourers at Claire Farm in Mutare have refused to vacate the property after it was allocated to a senior Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operative, Patrick Mukorera.

STAFF REPORTER

The matter has been set down for hearing on June 4.

The former labourers, through their lawyers from Maunga Maanda law firm, last year applied to have the matter referred to the ConCourt, arguing that they were equally entitled to ownership of the land and that any attempts to evict them would be a violation of their constitutional rights.

Mukorera once served as the provincial CIO boss for Manicaland before he was reassigned to Harare. The State’s senior spy agent has been embroiled in endless court challenges with former farm labourers since he took over the property in 2010.

The applicants, who used to work under former owner Tiny van Rensberg, are seeking an order of permanent injunction restraining Mukorera from evicting them.

In their application, they also made reference to several international instruments which Zimbabwe is a signatory to, among them the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the International Covenant on Social, Cultural and Economic Rights, to bolster their argument.