Chombo case ordered back to High Court

THE wrangle over control of Allan Grange Farm pitting former minister Ignatius Chombo and his former wife Ms Marian Mhloyi is far from over after the Supreme Court ordered the matter back to the High Court to consider the parties’ interests in the farm.

Mr Chombo won the fight to control Allan Grange Farm in Raffingora at the High Court, a decision that sought to bring finality to the politician’s divorce from ex-wife.

He got a decree of divorce in 2012 and all the property was shared except for the farm, which Ms Mhloyi insisted should be split to accommodate both parties.

She appealed to the Supreme Court and Justice Tendai Uchena recently ruled that the appeal had merit.

“The appeal has merit and should be allowed,” he said. “The case should be remitted to the court a quo (lower court) for it to consider the value of parties’ interests in the leased farm to enable it to distribute such interests between them.”

The couple’s divorce was granted by consent at the High Court in July 2014.

The consent order resolved the proprietary consequences of their divorce except the aspect pertaining to the distribution of their rights in Allan Grange Farm, which Mr Chombo was leasing from the State.

On appeal, Ms Mhloyi’s lawyer, Ms Beatrice Mtetwa, argued that the lower court erred by failing to make a distinction between the farm and the spouses’ rights in the leased farm being an asset of the spouses.

She argued that the spouses’ rights in the 99-year lease are an asset of the spouses. The superior court agreed with Ms Mtetwa on that point.

Mr Chombo, who was being represented by Samakange and Venturas law firm, did not dispute the spouses’ rights in the 99-year lease were an asset of the spouses.

Mr Chombo’s lawyers, however, argued that Ms Mhloyi shot herself in the foot by seeking to be awarded a portion of the farm measuring 400 hectares.

In his ruling, Justice Uchena noted that it was not in dispute that the farm was leased to Mr Chombo by the acquiring authority, saying this was an executive decision which the court could not interfere with.

“The court has authority to distribute the value of the parties’ interests in the 99-year lease which was registered at the Deeds Registry through Notarial Deed of Lease,” he said.

“It is a long-term lease which encumbers the rights of the owner and affords the lessee limited real rights.

“It is enforceable against third parties and entitles the lessee to use and enjoy the property till the end of the lease period when all rights to the property will revert to the lessor.”

At the High Court, Justice David Mangota ruled that the farm was Government property and that Mr Chombo was the legitimate lessee who is entitled to using it.

It was the lower court’s finding that the farm was not matrimonial property to be shared, hence Mr Chombo, who applied for the farm, would remain in occupation with whoever he marries after termination of the old marriage to Ms Mhloyi.

After the nullification of the marriage Ms Mhloyi was allocated the bulk of matrimonial property, which includes six haulage trucks and trailers, an AVM bus, an 18-tonne truck, a tanker, four cars and eight immovable properties.

Mr Chombo got flats at Eastview Gardens in Harare, an immovable property in Norton, a stand in Kariba, and all the properties at Allan Grange Farm in Raffingora.