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Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Court Reporter
THE Supreme Court has blocked Bulawayo businessman Mr Maxwell Shumba from taking over the running of Green Gables High School from the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM).

Mr Shumba was at one time proprietor of the school, formerly Elite High School.

AFM owns Green Gables Farm where the school is situated but Mr Shumba argues he has a right to run the institution because he established it in 1999.

The church evicted him from the farm on the outskirts of Bulawayo near Khami Ruins, following a fall-out with the Pelandaba-headquartered church after defaulting in rentals.

The church cancelled the 20-year lease agreement with Mr Shumba after obtaining an eviction order that was granted in 2009 by the High Court and remained running the boarding school.

Elite High School was then evicted by the Deputy Sheriff. Green Gables High School opened in January 2010 and started using the same premises.

The school is situated at the remaining extent of Subdivision B of Dustal Farm on the outskirts of Bulawayo.

Mr Shumba then successfully sought a provisional order at the High Court in March 2014 seeking to return to the premises, claiming the church established Green Gables High using Elite High School facilities.

The High Court then directed the AFM to move out of the Green Gables Farm on which the school is situated. The church filed an urgent application challenging the eviction but Bulawayo High Court judge, Justice Martin Makonese, threw out the application.

AFM, through its lawyers, Majoko and Majoko Legal Practitioners, subsequently launched an appeal against the provisional order at the Supreme Court.

Mr Shumba, through his lawyer, Mr Job Sibanda, also filed a request with the High Court, seeking leave to execute the provisional order to evict the church from Green Gables Farm, also known as the remaining extent of Subdivision B of Dustal Farm, pending determination of the church’s Supreme Court appeal against the order.

But, Bulawayo High Court judge, Justice Nokuthula Moyo, dismissed Mr Shumba’s application.

Justice Moyo argued that since both parties had pending appeals against each other at the Supreme Court over the dispute, they should wait for the outcome of the matter.

Supreme Court judge Justice Bharat Patel sitting with Justices Vernanda Ziyambi and Chinembiri Bhunu during a circuit in Bulawayo yesterday, upheld the church’s appeal and overturned the judgment of the lower court.

“The appeals in case numbers SC109/14, SC144/14 and SC264/16 are allowed. The orders granted in the court a quo in case numbers HC499/14, HC591/14 and HC200/15 be and hereby set aside,” ruled Justice Patel.

Mr Shumba is also claiming $5 million from AFM as compensation for the developments he allegedly made at the farm since 1999 when he entered into a lease agreement with the church to run a school at the property.

The two parties have been involved in a protracted legal battle spanning seven years which started when Mr Shumba was evicted from the farm for non-payment of rent.