Time Bank Limited is reported to have successfully regained it’s 6 000 hectares of land which had been seized and irregularly allocated under the land reform programme. The bank is set to reopen after its licence was reinstated following a protracted legal battle after its licence was unprocedurally withdrawn by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) in 2004.
The land had been seized by illegal occupants with the alleged help of former cabinet minister Didymus Mutasa. Time Bank through its affiliate company Watermount Estates, won legal applications to evict the illegal occupants. However, this was futile as the occupants led by one Ephraim Nhamo resisted efforts to evict them say that they had the blessings of former president Robert Mugabe.
However, their luck ran out when Mugabe stepped down in November and was replaced by his former deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa. Last month the illegal occupants were evicted by the Sheriff of the High Court with the help of the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
More: The Business Weekly