Pachena
By Brenna Matendere
Falcon Golf Club’s fight to keep control of the Harare course it has run for 55 years has taken another bitter turn. The club has launched a scathing attack on Defence Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, accusing her of a malicious and outrageous decision to declare the golf club a military cantonment.
In a review application filed at the High Court, the Hatfield club wants the declaration set aside. It argues that no sensible authority could have made such a decision.
The application, dated 5 October 2026, challenges Statutory Instrument 28 of 2026, which the minister gazetted on 13 February2026. The notice placed the club’s 17 leased stands under military control. The club says it only learnt of the decree on 5 September, when Air Force officers moved onto the property.
Also cited as respondents are Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander General Emmanuel Matatu and Air Force Commander Air Marshal Jacob Nzvede.
‘Illogical and malicious’
In papers filed by Takaindisa Law Chambers, the club said: “The decision to declare a specific area a cantonment is so outrageous in its defiance of logic or accepted moral standards that no sensible authority, having applied its mind to the issue, could have arrived at it.”
It said there was no “objective factual basis connecting the area to defence or military quartering needs.”
“The decision is tainted with malice,” the club said, adding that the minister did not take the land “on the basis of any pressing military emergency, need or security threat.”
The club alleges the land “was forcibly grabbed… under the guise of a cantonment for social recreational purposes of the military.”
Owner or occupier?
The club also says the military’s case contradicts itself. The Air Force has publicly claimed it has “always been the lawful owner” of the land, yet the minister still declared a cantonment over it.
“If one is an owner of land, he does not need to declare the cantonment,” the papers state. “Is the military really the owner of the land, if so what then is the reason for a cantonment?”
The respondents, the club said, “must pick their poison.”
The club holds a City of Harare lease signed in 1971 and running until 2070, and notes that only an owner can grant a lease.
Rights at stake
Club trustee Alex Mashamhanda, who deposed the founding affidavit, said the decision would violate several rights protected by the Constitution if it is allowed to stand.
These include the right to property. The club built the golf course, clubhouse and other facilities, which Mashamhanda estimates are worth more than US$2 million. The respondents have said nothing about compensation.
The club also cites protection against arbitrary eviction. It argues that a gazette notice is not a court order and that it could not lawfully be removed without one.
It further cites freedom of movement, saying members have been barred from their own clubhouse.
The club also says it was denied its right to be heard. The minister did not give written notice or allow representations, despite the club’s open occupation of the land for 55 years. A gazette notice that “does not even identify the Applicant” or its land properly was not adequate in law, the club said.
None of these violations, it argues, can be justified under the Constitution.
Plaque, tournament and committee ousted
According to the papers, Group Captains Kereke and Dube arrived at the club on 5 September, removed doors and ceilings, and began painting the buildings in Air Force colours.
On 12 September, the Air Force hosted the Zimbabwe Inter-Service Golf Team Championship at the course. Members were denied entry all day. Nzvede unveiled a plaque stating that he had officially opened “this golf estate”. The event programme shows the tournament was handed to the President’s Department, the CIO, to host in 2027.
On 30 September, the Air Force informed the Zimbabwe Golf Association that it had “reclaimed” the course. It said the MashwedeGolf Classic, sponsored by Mashamhanda, would no longer be held there because of his lawsuit.
On 1 October, Air Commodore K Zimbudzana told club chairman J Musonza that his committee “no longer represents the Falcon Golf Club as from 01 October 2026.”
Earlier case withdrawn
The review application replaces an urgent spoliation application, HCH 4662/26, which the club withdrew by consent on 24 September to correct procedural defects.
The respondents have 10 days to file opposing papers. The club wants the cantonment over all 17 stands set aside and the respondents ordered to pay costs on a higher scale.
