By a Correspondent
A dramatic twist unfolded last Friday at Springs Farm in Goromonzi after agriculture minister Anxious Masuka was left speechless during a visit to the farm which he tried hand to displace war veterans who were allocated the land in early 2000 and hand it over to controversial tycoon Muller Conrad “Billy” Rautenbach.
During a wheat production tour on May 15, Masuka, to his surprise, discovered booming farming operations, thriving joint ventures and high crop productivity at the farm in Goromonzi, Mashonaland East Province which had relentlessly attempted to wrestle from the war veterans in favour of Rautenbach.
The farm became the centre of a fierce legal battle after Masuka attempted to displace war veterans from the land to ostensibly compensate Rautenbach for land he purportedly lost in Harare’s Aspindale.
This was despite the High Court establishing that the Aspindale land never belonged to Rauntenbach in the first place.
Rautenbach is a millionaire businessman widely viewed as politically connected.
During the wheat production seminar and ministerial tour Masuka was startled upon discovering the high productivity at the farm.
He was tongue-tied to realise that he was pushing to grab a highly productive property from local indigenous black farmers when vast tracts of land lie fallow and derelict across the country.
Masuka, before the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development was split, pushed for the removal of the war veterans from the farm only to be stopped by the High Court.
Last month, the ministry was split and Masuka was appointed Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development, while Vangelis Haritatos became Minister of Lands and Rural Development.
Masuka had allocated the prime land to Ruatenbach under very controversial circumstances.
He wanted to dispossess the war veterans of their land and targeted their farm to compensate Rautenbach of land that he had ostensibly lost in Aspindale, Harare.
However, it later turned out that the Aspindale land never belonged to Rautenbach a move that shocked the war veterans who questioned why they were being displaced to ‘compensate’ the controversial businessman.
Masuka disregarded it until he was stopped by the High Court.
But he approached the High Court a month later seeking rescission of the judgment which favoured the war veterans.
However, during Masuka’s tour of Springs Farm, the farmers seized the opportunity to confront him, warning that government interference and uncertainty were scaring away investors, crippling long-term planning, limiting investment and productivity on the land.
Some of the farmers at Springs are engaged in joint ventures with investors, but the government had disregarded this and allocated the land to Rautenbach.
The war veterans also raised concern after it emerged Rautenbach had been issued with the property’s deed of transfer on 5 June 2025 before the High Court had even passed judgment on the matter.
They complained that Masuka had attempted to compensate Rautenbach for land he never owned, adding that the controversial millionaire was being “compensated” with more than 1000 hectares of prime land for the approximately 180 hectares in Aspindale which the government was claiming he had lost.
The matter was later taken to the High Court where Justice Regis Dembure set aside the minister’s bid to withdraw the farm, ruling that the decision was procedurally irregular, irrational and disrupted the farmers’ livelihoods.
The judge also found that the minister had failed to properly apply his mind when he issued the withdrawal of the offer letters.
Court records further show that on 2 September 2025, more than a month after judgment had been delivered, Masuka filed what he termed a “composite application” seeking rescission of judgment, condonation, and upliftment of the bar.
Legal analysts argued that the application was filed out of time. Concerns of government official capture emerged amid allegations that lawyers linked to Rautenbach had assisted in drafting the application on behalf of state legal representatives. The matter was heard by Justice Tawanda Chitapi and judgment is expected soon.
Farmers opposing Masuka’s application for recession argued that his application lacked prospects of success, citing the recent Supreme Court ruling in the Chombo matter, where the court upheld the sanctity of government-backed joint venture agreements and emphasized that the State cannot abandon contractual obligations through administrative action.
In the landmark judgment delivered in January 2026, the Supreme Court overturned the government’s cancellation of a 99-year farming lease held by former Finance Minister Ignatius Chombo for Allan Grange Farm in Zvimba.
The Supreme Court bench (comprising Justices Joseph Musakwa, Chinembiri Bhunu, and George Chiweshe) ruled unanimously in Chombo’s favor, setting aside a previous High Court decision against him.
Key takeaways from the Supreme Court ruling is that it ruled that the minister acted unlawfully and overstepped into judicial territory by prematurely cancelling the lease.
The war veterans applauded President Emmerson Mnangagwa for removing Masuka from the lands portfolio after splitting the ministry.
