High Court Dismisses Crowhill Residents’ Bid to Reopen Mount Breezes Estate Road

The High Court has dismissed an application by the Upper Crowhill Residents Association that sought to overturn Mount Breezes Borrowdale Brooke Estate’s gated community status and reclaim use of a disputed road passing through the private development.

In a ruling handed down by Justice Joel Mambara, the court found the application to be “fatally defective” and an abuse of legal process, ruling that the association lacked the authority to bring the matter before the court and had acted “with dirty hands” by occupying stands and using an unapproved road without compliance certificates.

“The applicant’s unlawful conduct lies at the core of its claim,” Justice Mambara said. “One cannot construct an illegal road through another person’s property and then ask the court to declare it lawful.”

The dispute centred on Crowhill Road, which residents said historically provided access to Borrowdale Road. However, in 2015, the City of Harare issued a letter confirming it had “no objection” to Mount Breezes’ gated community plan, enabling the installation of gates that restricted access to non-residents.

The Upper Crowhill residents argued that the City’s approval was invalid and that any road servitudes were extinguished when the land was subdivided in 1999. But the court rejected that argument, finding the association was improperly constituted — having only been registered in 2024 — and could not reopen matters already resolved by previous judgments.

Drawing on submissions from the respondents, Justice Mambara remarked:

“A child born in 2024 cannot retroactively challenge decisions made by its parents in 2015.”

The judge also criticised the association for ignoring a binding 2014 consent order, which granted Crowhill Farm (Pvt) Ltd sole authority to represent residents in all legal matters until the development is formally regularised.

He further held that the association’s case was, in essence, a review of an administrative decision disguised as a declaratory application and was therefore out of time, as it sought to challenge a municipal decision made nine years earlier.

Dismissing the case with punitive costs, Justice Mambara cautioned that courts would not aid litigants who openly disregard the law.

“The courts cannot connive with or excuse deliberate illegality. Citizens must obey the law first and argue later,” he said.

The ruling reinforces previous court decisions affirming Mount Breezes residents’ right to a private, gated environment and effectively closes the chapter on Crowhill residents’ prolonged effort to reopen the contested access road.