CFI Holdings Limited has gone on forward to develop the Saturday Retreat estate that the company acquired back after an invasion of the property by land barons.
The real estate firm lost control of the Saturday Retreat property in 2013 and since then home seekers built houses on the estate and went on to name the property Ushewokunze.
CFI Holdings Acting Chief Executive Officer Shingirai Chibanguza said, “The Group has since received approved town planning permits from the City Council for 80% of the (Saturday Retreat) estate.”
“This progress, together with other development preliminaries pursued in the year, will assist the Group in giving impetus to the development stage of the project.”
Residents in Ushewokunze have been in dispute with CFI Holdings over the ownership of Saturday Retreat estate.
The Residents argued that the land had been acquired by the government in 2005 hence CFI Holdings had no right to kick them out of the property.
A court ruling however ruled that the estate belonged to CFI Holdings’ subsidiary Crest Breeders International.
The occupation of Saturday Retreat has resulted in the arrest of Harare South Ward councillor Tendai Katsarira on allegations of subdividing a piece of the estate into residential stands and selling the stands to home seekers.
The court ruling on Saturday Retreat’s ownership also directed residents who settled in the estate to pay compensation to Crest Breeders International.
Chibanguza said, “An encouraging number of residents, who had initially fallen in arrears for stand payments, regularized the same during the period and duly signed the legal paperwork in preparation for the development phase of the project.”
