The High Court has ordered the government to release the findings of the Uchena Commission, a major inquiry into state land deals that may have cost Zimbabwe US$3 billion.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa set up the Commission, chaired by Justice Tendai Uchena, in February 2018. It was tasked to investigate the sale of state land in and around urban areas since 2005, following widespread complaints about illegal land deals and settlements linked to land barons. Uchena presented the report in December 2019, but it has never been made public.
Former Harare East MP Allan Markham went to court to force its release, arguing that the continued secrecy violated the public’s constitutional right to access information. Markham told the court the report contained “damning findings regarding the large-scale illegal sale and development of State land.”
Government, represented by the Attorney-General, opposed the application. It argued that Section 62 of the Constitution does not impose a duty on the President to publish commission reports, and that Markham had failed to show how the public’s right to access information had been violated.
In his ruling, delivered December 24, Justice Maxwell Takuva rejected that argument and relied on Section 62(1) of the Constitution, which guarantees access to information held by the state where it is required for public accountability. The judge said: “The court is satisfied that the continued withholding of this report constitutes a violation of the constitutional right to access information.”
Takuva was critical of the secrecy around the report, stating: “The failure to make public a report of such national importance conveys opacity rather than transparency and secrecy rather than accountability, and silence rather than responsiveness.” He ordered the President to release the Uchena Commission to the public within 90 days.
A summary of the Uchena report, released in 2019 when it was handed to government, said the Commission identified more than 400 suspected cases of corruption in State land sales that required investigation. It recommended probes into all past and present officials involved in land allocations, including lifestyle audits. The Commission valued the land sold to developers at US$3 004 368.93, but found government recovered only about 10% of its true value.
The landmark ruling may shape how government handles other commission reports, some of which it has kept unpublished years after completion
