The High Court has stopped the planned exhumation of the remains of revered apostolic sect founder Johanne Masowe, ruling that the process used to authorise the removal of his body from a shrine in Rusape was unlawful.
Justice Regis Dembure declared that the March 10 decision granting authority to exhume the remains of Peter Jack Masedza, popularly known as Baba Johanne Masowe, violated the Administrative Justice Act and had to be set aside.
"It is declared that the decision... giving authority to third and fourth respondents to exhume the remains... is in violation of section 3(1) of the Administrative Justice Act and is accordingly set aside," ruled Dembure.
The explosive legal battle pits Gospel of God Church International against Masowe's sons, Magaga and Reuben Masedza, who have spent years fighting to rebury their father away from the church shrine at Gandanzara, Rusape, where he was buried in 1973.
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The court said the Registrar who authorised the exhumation acted unlawfully after wrongly believing previous court rulings had already approved the removal of the late church leader's remains.
"There was no such order; the courts had merely confirmed the third and fourth respondents' procedural right to seek exhumation before the Minister, subject to due process being followed," Dembure said.
The judge ruled that mandatory procedures under the Cemeteries Act had not been followed, including publication of notices in the Government Gazette and newspapers for three consecutive months.
"The provisions of s38(5) of the Cemeteries Act are peremptory. The law is clear that anything done contrary to peremptory statutory provisions is a nullity," the judge said.
The court also criticised a public notice issued by one of Masowe's sons calling for objections within 30 days.
"That is not the process undertaken in terms of s38(5) of the Cemeteries Act," the judge ruled.
The exhumation had been scheduled for April 2 before the church rushed to court seeking an urgent order to stop it.
The legal wrangle over the influential preacher's remains stretches back more than two decades.
In 2003, one of the sons unsuccessfully sought access to the shrine to visit his father's grave.
Another court battle erupted in 2023 after the sons sought permission to exhume and rebury the remains.
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Dembure ruled that the matter must now go back to the Minister of Home Affairs for a lawful determination after hearing objections from all parties.
The sons were ordered to pay legal costs.
