HARARE – The High Court is scheduled to hear a legal challenge on Thursday, concerning the allocation of farmland to Muller Conrad “Billy” Rautenbach, a business associate of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a case that has been brought by war veterans who previously occupied the land.
This proceeding is anticipated to provide an indication of the Zimbabwean government’s adherence to property rights, transparency, accountability, and its approach to land reform.
The case unfolds against a backdrop of recent rulings that have highlighted the judiciary’s role in safeguarding property rights.
In August 2024, the High Court prevented Lands Minister Anxious Masuka from revoking an offer letter to Chegutu businessman Christopher Rukawo, who had extensively developed his farm.
Similarly, earlier this month, the High Court ruled against the state’s expropriation of Esidakeni Farm, owned by human rights lawyer Siphosami Malunga and his partners, declaring the seizure null and void.
The circumstances surrounding the seizure of Springs Farm in Goromonzi District, Mashonaland East Province, and its subsequent allocation to Rautenbach’s Marimba Residential Properties Limited, suggest potential manipulation and corruption.
High Court judge Justice Regis Dembure will preside over the matter.
Eyebrows were raised when it emerged that Rautenbach was issued the land’s deed of transfer on June 5, 2025, before the High Court case was heard.
This alarmed the productive indigenous farmers at Springs Farm, including war veterans, who had their applications still pending before the courts. Adding to the controversy, armed guards were deployed around the farm last week, again prior to the court hearing.
A significant point of contention is how the government facilitated the seizure of Springs and the adjacent Stuhm Farm to purportedly compensate Marimba Residential Properties Limited for land it claimed to have lost in Harare’s Aspindale Park.
This occurred despite a High Court ruling on March 25, 2019, that declared Marimba Residential Properties Limited was not the rightful owner of the Aspindale Park land.
Despite this clear judicial decision, Local Government Minister Daniel Garwe, in a letter dated March 14, 2025, offered Rautenbach’s company over 1,000 hectares of land at Springs and Stuhm Farms as “total and final compensation” for properties he never legally owned.
This compensation, covering over 1,000 hectares, is for a mere 180 hectares of Aspindale Park land that was allegedly not even Rautenbach’s in the first place.
Investigations revealed that Rautenbach’s companies, Marimba Residential Properties and Marimba Industrial Properties, were not even registered with the Registrar of Companies in June 2018 when they claimed title over the Aspindale Park land.
The Aspindale land had been allocated to the Joshua Nkomo Housing Co-operative by the government in 2004 for residential development.
Despite a High Court ruling by Justice Philda Muzofa that upheld the cooperatives’ rights to the Aspindale land, President Mnangagwa reportedly instructed Minister Masuka to compensate Rautenbach for a purported loss of land he did not own.
Aggrieved farmers from Springs Farm have formally protested to War Veterans Minister Monica Mavhunga, asserting that “the land which Billy Rautenbach claims to have lost in Aspindale was never his.”
They highlighted his failure to produce title deeds and the High Court’s ruling against him in favor of the housing cooperatives.
The farmers also expressed dismay over the potential loss of their significant investments in developing the farms over the past two decades.
They have invested in land clearing, irrigation systems, agricultural equipment, livestock herds, and the construction of farmhouses and a school, some through joint ventures with investors that are set to run until 2029.
Stuhm Farm, also allocated to Rautenbach, was reportedly sold to Members of Parliament during the eighth parliament in 2019, with lease agreements completed on May 15, 2019.
