HARARE – Millionaire businessman Shingai Mutasa and 25 other Glen Lorne residents have secured a court order stopping a Chinese-owned developer from carrying out works on a legally protected wetland in the upmarket Harare suburb.
The residents obtained an interim order by consent before High Court judge Justice Samuel Deme on Monday, temporarily halting works by Zhuomu International (Private) Limited at Stand 4717 while the wider legal dispute is pursued.
Mutasa is leading the challenge against the proposed development, which comprises 21 standalone villas and 75 cluster housing units on about 9.2 hectares.
The residents approached the High Court arguing that construction of a perimeter wall had entered an area excluded from development under Zhuomu’s environmental approval.
Their lawyer, Lincoln Majogo of Mtetwa & Nyambirai Legal Practitioners, said the order gave the applicants the immediate protection they were seeking.
“We have an order by consent where parties have agreed that pending the determination of this matter, the first respondent, that is to say Zhuomu, is going to stop any works concerning the area that is in dispute,” Majogo said.
The parties will return to court in terms of agreed timelines while continuing to explore an out-of-court settlement, he said.
In his founding affidavit, Mutasa describes the residents as having a “direct and substantial interest” in protecting the wetland near their homes and in vindicating their environmental rights.
He says the dispute is not simply about a boundary wall but concerns whether the developer has complied with environmental and water laws governing construction on the protected site.
“The present dispute concerns physical works which are continuing or may resume at short notice,” Mutasa says in the affidavit.
He argued that the urgency arises because the subject of the intended substantive proceedings could be permanently altered before residents obtain the administrative records they need to challenge the approvals.
Mutasa says residents witnessed grading and levelling near the Umwinsi River on August 5, 17 and 18, followed by trenching and wall construction.
On August 24, he says, a JCB excavating a trench for the perimeter wall along Lytham Road moved down the slope into what appeared to be the restricted area.
The following day, the residents allege that the machine trenched across a minor stream flowing into a dam on neighbouring property.
“Continued trenching, excavation, foundation work, wall construction, grading and dumping may materially alter the wetland and drainage environment which will have severe ecological ramifications,” Mutasa said.
The residents also allege that rubble, soil and felled trees were dumped in the restricted area and that boreholes were being used before they were satisfied that the necessary water abstraction permits existed.
They reported the alleged activities to the Environmental Management Agency and water authorities, according to the affidavit.
Mutasa says EMA officials inspected the site but the alleged violations continued.
He also said residents were left without clarity on whether the City of Harare’s approval of the boundary wall could override the environmental restrictions imposed under the EIA certificate.
The residents’ case is anchored on the legal protection afforded to the wetland.
According to the affidavit, the bulk of the property was gazetted as part of the Helensvale Ecologically Sensitive Area in 2022.
Mutasa says the Environmental Management Act prohibits certain activities on protected wetlands without the required written authorisation, while environmental regulations also restrict activities including drilling, altering soil and disturbing natural vegetation in wetlands and areas close to public streams.
The residents are not asking the court in the urgent application to finally determine the legality of the EIA certificate or other approvals.
Instead, they want the status quo preserved while they obtain documents from the authorities and formulate substantive proceedings.
A major concern is the potential impact on Harare’s water systems.
Mutasa says the property forms part of the Umwinsi headwater wetland ecosystem, which drains into the Nyagui River and ultimately the Mazowe River.
He cites an assessment by wetlands expert Dr Rob Cunliffe, which warns that the proposed development could have serious consequences for local and downstream water supplies.
“The proposed development of cluster housing on this site will cause irreversible detrimental impacts to local and downstream water availability and water quality,” the report says, as quoted in Mutasa’s affidavit.
The report warns that replacing natural surfaces with roofs, roads and paving would reduce infiltration and groundwater recharge while increasing runoff and the risk of downstream flooding.
It also raises concerns about pollution, siltation and the impact of drilling multiple boreholes within the wetland ecosystem.
Mutasa says the threat extends beyond the residents living around Stand 4717.
“The damage caused would not affect only the Applicants but also potentially thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of other people who live along the Umwinsi, Nyagui, and Mazowe Rivers,” he says.
The applicants also rely on the constitutional right to an environment that is not harmful to health or wellbeing, as well as rights relating to food, water, administrative justice and access to information.
The case comes amid longstanding concerns over the destruction of Harare’s wetlands through residential and commercial developments, with environmental organisations documenting disputes over land allocation, regulatory failures and construction in protected areas.
The residents say the court intervention is necessary because damage to wetlands cannot easily be reversed or compensated through financial damages once the physical environment has been altered.
“The balance of convenience favours preservation of the wetland pending determination of the substantive proceedings,” Mutasa says.
The consent order obtained on Monday effectively gives the residents the immediate protection they sought, while the parties continue with the legal process and negotiations aimed at resolving the dispute.
Source: Glen Lorne residents block Chinese firm’s wetland construction – Zimbabwe News Now
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