Zimbabwe's top prosecutor wants to stop land thieves from stealing empty properties. Justice Loyce Matanda-Moyo asked the High Court for help protecting valuable plots that nobody claimed after independence. Her office discovered these forgotten lands attract crooks who sell fake deeds to unsuspecting buyers. The government hopes this legal move will strengthen its fight against illegal land sales.
Chris Mutangadura from the Asset Forfeiture Unit filed papers targeting specific properties like a nice spot in Waterfalls, Harare. Someone tipped off the prosecutor about shady deals happening there. Officials checked old records and found this land never received proper ownership papers after the colonial rulers left in 1980. The plot sits empty despite being mapped out for houses way back in 1977.
Police checked with Harare city officials, who showed only an ancient document from 1976. This paper proved surveyors measured the land but never assigned it to anyone. Justice Matanda-Moyo explained her job requires her to prosecute anyone trying to grab these unclaimed properties. She believes these lands automatically belong to the country since nobody else can prove ownership.
Zimbabwe classifies land in several ways - city properties with title deeds, rural areas with permits, farmlands with ownership papers, and tribal lands run by chiefs. The problem comes when nobody knows which category fits certain plots. Neither the national government nor Harare city officials can say who controls these mystery properties. The prosecutor could have used money laundering laws but decided on a different approach since they can't name specific criminals yet.
The legal team argues these abandoned properties qualify as "nobody's land" under the law. They need special protection because they somehow escaped normal government tracking systems. Even the special board created to find abandoned properties missed these plots. The government never officially acquired them despite sitting empty since independence. The case names both the Registrar of Deeds and Surveyor-General as responding parties in court documents.
Chris Mutangadura from the Asset Forfeiture Unit filed papers targeting specific properties like a nice spot in Waterfalls, Harare. Someone tipped off the prosecutor about shady deals happening there. Officials checked old records and found this land never received proper ownership papers after the colonial rulers left in 1980. The plot sits empty despite being mapped out for houses way back in 1977.
Police checked with Harare city officials, who showed only an ancient document from 1976. This paper proved surveyors measured the land but never assigned it to anyone. Justice Matanda-Moyo explained her job requires her to prosecute anyone trying to grab these unclaimed properties. She believes these lands automatically belong to the country since nobody else can prove ownership.
Zimbabwe classifies land in several ways - city properties with title deeds, rural areas with permits, farmlands with ownership papers, and tribal lands run by chiefs. The problem comes when nobody knows which category fits certain plots. Neither the national government nor Harare city officials can say who controls these mystery properties. The prosecutor could have used money laundering laws but decided on a different approach since they can't name specific criminals yet.
The legal team argues these abandoned properties qualify as "nobody's land" under the law. They need special protection because they somehow escaped normal government tracking systems. Even the special board created to find abandoned properties missed these plots. The government never officially acquired them despite sitting empty since independence. The case names both the Registrar of Deeds and Surveyor-General as responding parties in court documents.
