Zimbabwe: Battle for Auction Floors Hots Up

Source from:  All Africa 12/15/2010

THE Zimbabwe Industry Tobacco Auction Centre is taking its case against Boka Investment to the Government as the battle for control of the floors continues to deepen. Questions on how the multimillion-dollar structure was constructed are also going to be raised. Zitac seems eager to leave no stone unturned in the fight that has seen the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board announcing that it has given Boka Investments an auction licence. Sources close to the row said Zitac is expected to hold a meeting with Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made this week. According to a Press statement issued by Zitac last weekend, the firm feels it has been unfairly treated in particular by TIMB considering the effort and costs it incurred to regularise the building. This was after local authorities had initially condemned it after indicating that it encroached on the Harare-Masvingo dualisation project. "The building was constructed without following council procedures. Therefore, it was an illegal structure which could have been pulled down by the council," said Zitac in a Press statement. "It is Zitac which approached the Harare City Council to regularise the purchase of the land and the building by carrying out a title survey, paying the cost of the land to Harare City Council and requesting the council to move the Masvingo Road a number of metrs to the West so that the building could be saved. "Zitac paid for the changes made by the Town Planning Department." Zitac is embroiled in an ownership row with Boka, with the latter having already made moves to have the firm evicted from the premises. Boka Investments wants Zitac evicted from the premises arguing that the latter had breached the tenancy agreement and had turned the building into a haven for vice. But Zitac is challenging the eviction arguing it has no legal basis. Zitac signed a lease agreement for 15 years for the entire Boka Auction Floors from 2001 to 2016 with an option to renew for a further 10 years from the judicial manager. The High Court is still to make a determination on the legal dispute. Enditem