The High Court has found a Chinese-owned company, Beable Investments (Pvt) Ltd and its director, Lin Weilan, guilty of contempt of court for defying an order to stop clay extraction and brick moulding on land legally owned by Marimba Residential Properties.
In a recent judgment, Justice Gibson Mandaza ruled that the company must pay a US$20,000 fine within three days, while Weilan was sentenced to 30 days in prison, wholly suspended on condition that she ensures her company complies with the court order.
"This court will not allow its authority to be reduced to a toothless bulldog," Mandaza said.
"The respondents have no defence at all for disobeying the court order. They have brought the administration of justice into disrepute."
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The dispute centres on Subdivision B of Springs Farm in Harare, a 671-hectare property allocated to Marimba Properties in 2024 as compensation for land lost to settlers in Aspindale Park.
Despite multiple directives from the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), the Ministry of Mines, and the Ministry of Lands to cease operations, Beable Investments continued its activities.
Mandaza said photographic and drone evidence provided by a licensed expert showed "thriving brick moulding and clay extraction" in direct violation of the provisional court order issued in July 2025.
"It does not make sense for the respondents to claim that they are not in contempt when the evidence points to a thriving activity on the farm," the judge noted. "It is clearly a lie that there is no activity going on at the farm."
The judge also dismissed the respondents' claims of harassment and their objections to the admissibility of photographic evidence, stressing that directors cannot hide behind their companies to evade accountability.
"A director who, with knowledge of a court order against a company, causes that company to disobey it, is himself guilty of contempt of court," Mandaza ruled.
The background to the case reveals a protracted land wrangle. In April 2024, President Emmerson Mnangagwa directed that Marimba Residential Properties be compensated with Springs Farm and Stuhm land after it lost Aspindale Park.
Government officials, including Lands Minister Anxious Masuka and Local Government Minister Daniel Garwe, confirmed the transfer.
In October 2024, the Mines Ministry revoked Beable Investments' mining certificate, but the company refused to vacate the land.
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Justice Mandaza said the conduct of the company and its director showed "a knack for defying authority," adding that their continued operations undermined the rule of law.
"All orders of court, whether correctly or incorrectly granted, have to be obeyed until they are properly set aside," he warned.
The ruling compels Beable Investments and its director to immediately stop operations, or risk execution of property and imprisonment.
