Grace Mugabe's problems mount by the day

 Grace Mugabe's problems mount by the day
Published: 14 October 2019
FORMER first lady Grace Mugabe risks losing one of the properties that forms part of her family's sprawling residence in Harare's leafy suburb of Borrowdale famously referred to as the Blue Roof following a High Court ruling in June ordering the former first family to let go of that property.

This comes as Grace is feeling the heat on a number of fronts, including from artisanal miners who have moved onto her properties in Mazowe, in Mashonaland Central, following the recent move by authorities to allow people she had dispossessed of their land C

there to claim it back.

Now the Sheriff of the High Court has issued a warrant of ejection against Grace's continued hold on to one of the properties at the palatial Harare home with the former first lady supposed to surrender it by end of day on Wednesday.

The ruling Zanu-PF bought the land housing the Blue Roof before donating it to the late former president Robert Mugabe in 1999 who later bought five other adjacent properties including one with a dam, stables, tennis court and swimming pool, and thereby substantially increasing the size of the Borrowdale estate where the home is built.

The ejection warrant follows a court application by the owners of the disputed land six years ago, who were later evicted to pave the way for the construction of the Mugabes' mansion.

In their court papers which were filed at the High Court in 2013, Farai and Nyasha Chitsinde who are the applicants, and were represented by their mother Constance Chitsinde cited their father Oliver Chitsinde and the Local Government ministry (which facilitated the sale) as respondents, for having sold the disputed property that belonged to the then minors in 2004.

According to the writ of ejection that was issued on October 4 this year, the Chitsindes intend to move onto the disputed property as soon as possible.

"Now therefore you are required and directed to eject ... all persons claiming through it, its goods and possessions from and out of all occupation and possession whatsoever of the said premises, and to leave the same, to the end that the said Farai Nigel Chitsinde and Nyasha Amanda Chitsinde duly represented by Constance Tsitsi Chitsinde may peaceably enter into and possess the same, and for so doing this shall be your warrant," part of the warrant reads.

According to an earlier default judgment in the case that was issued in 2013, the agreement of sale for the property was deemed to be null and void because the land was sold when the applicants were minors.

This latest development comes as Grace is also facing eviction from some of her farms in Mazowe where she built her famed Gushungo dairy operations and a top-notch private school.

The much-debated decision by the government to allow claim holders back there has opened up the floodgates, as artisanal miners who have all along been waiting in the wings have started pouring onto their lands, threatening the Mugabes' businesses in the area.

As a result, there are fears that the massive Mugabe family empire, that came into being at the height of their power, will soon start to crumble as those who once feared them gather the courage to come back onto the farms, buoyed by the recent death of the former president.

The death of Mugabe at a top Singaporean hospital on September 6, as well as the subsequent ugly tussling with the government over where he was to be buried, has put question marks over the future of his widow and children.
- dailynews
Tags: GraceMugabe,

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