The Commercial Division of the High Court of Malawi has rejected an application from GM Properties Limited to evict natives and residents of Area 26 in Lilongwe without compensations.

Area 26 lies on a stretch of land between Kanengo Puma Filling Station and Magwero Full Primary School in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe.

In 2005, the Ministry of Lands and Urban Development allocated part of the land to GM Properties Limited in a classic case of abuse of authority because, as the former Lilongwe District Lands Officer James Mwenda – now District Commissioner for Salima – explained, the company cut corners to acquire the land as well as lease documents for the same.

As if that was not enough, GM Properties Limited went behind the council’s back by commencing construction work on a piece of land whose original owners it never compensated.

And in May 2021, the company – through its lawyers (changed four times before the resumption of the court case) – served summons on Watipaso Mzungu (first defendant) and several other residents with court order stopping them from staying and developing their land.

At times, they would employ the police to run around, intimidating innocent people with arrests if they continued building modern houses on their ancestral land.

But the residents challenged these machinations through a private practice lawyer – Oscar Taulo.

And when the matter appeared before Judge Howard Pemba, Taulo asked government witness Mwenda said GM Properties Limited acted within the legal realms by demanding eviction of the natives and residents before compensations.

In response, Mwenda told the court that the company contravened the law by commencing construction work before compensating the villagers.

He further added that GM Properties Limited was not supposed to start processing a lease for the land before compensating the residents.

Again, Mwenda stated that the company acted dishonestly securing a lease without the knowledge of Lilongwe District Council.

“Of course, I can’t explain how the company got the title deed. But Let me re-emphasize that processing of a title deed (lease) can only start after all the development affected people have been duly compensated. In this case and to our knowledge [at Lilongwe District Council], none of the villagers has been compensated to date,” he stressed.

And after analyzing the evidence before him, Judge Pemba rebuffed GM Properties Limited, telling them they had no powers to evict natives and residents whose land was not compensated.

Pemba told the company to enter into new negotiations with the people of they still wanted the land, stressing that compensations would be calculated at the current rates, and not 2005 when the company was allocated the piece of land.

In an interview after the delivery of the ruling last week, counsel Taulo said the judgment is a win for the people of Area 26.

He said it was sad that the natives and residents suffered injustice and deception from GM Properties Limited through failure by the company to compensate them.

This is one of the cases involving high profile citizens, which Taulo has won since he started his career.

Recently, he also won a Covid-19 mandatory vaccination case where individuals were to be forced to get vaccinations. The lawyer helped to slow government from implementing this decision.

He also successfully challenged a court order for the confinement of Vincent Wandale at Zomba Mental Hospital.