ZIMBABWE Land Commission (ZLC) Midlands regional director Lincon Kausiyo (45) has been taken to the court to face criminal abuse of office charges after he allegedly grabbed a vast tract of land which was in dispute.

Kausiyo appeared before Gweru magistrate Thomas Gurajena on Thursday last week and was remanded out of custody on free bail to Thursday for trial.

He faced two charges – violation of the Mines and Minerals Act and criminal abuse of duty as a public officer as defined in section 174 (1) (A) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.

Allegations are that sometime in 2002, a farmer, Leonard Gotora (44) residing at plot number lot 45 Wildbeast Block Gweru, reported to the Gweru lands office a land boundary dispute between him and a miner, the late Anna Majasi. The land boundary dispute was never resolved and it was outstanding until 2016.

During that period, Gotora made numerous follow ups with the lands office about the long-outstanding dispute. The matter was taken up by Kausiyo whose duties as ZLC regional director involved settling such disputes.

The land he grabbed measured 17,5 hectares.

The court heard that Kausiyo had no lawful right to grab and occupy the disputed land.

He was supposed to settle the impasse and deliver a judgment on who between the two rightfully owned the land.

The value of the removed beacons which had been put by the miner to mark the boundary of her claim was $700 and they were recovered by the police.