A Church Paid $21,000 for Five Plots. Four Years Later, It Asked a Court to Make the Council Hand Them Over

• ZAOGA agreed to buy five plots from Gokwe Town Council for $60,000
• It paid $21,000 in 2013, with the balance due after transfer
• The council issued a confirmation certificate in 2015 but did not transfer the land
• The church asked the High Court to force the transfer or provide equivalent land

The Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa, better known as ZAOGA, has taken Gokwe Town Council to the High Court over five plots of land it says it bought and part-paid for years ago. NewsDay reported in April 2017 that the church wanted the court to compel the council to complete the transfer.

According to the application, the church and the council agreed a purchase price of $60,000 for the five stands. ZAOGA paid $15,000 on 26 August 2013 and another $6,000 on 9 October 2013, a total of $21,000. The two sides agreed that the remaining $39,000 would be paid once the council had transferred the land into the church’s name.

In June 2015 the church received a property confirmation certificate. Since then, it said, it had repeatedly asked for formal transfer or legal recognition of its ownership. Instead, the council allegedly refused and tried to revalue the stands, which would have raised the price of land the church believed it had already agreed to buy.

ZAOGA asked the court to order the council to transfer the stands within five days or, failing that, to allocate alternative land worth the $21,000 already paid, calculated at the original valuation rate. The case turned on a familiar problem: a buyer who has paid a deposit and holds some paperwork, but not the title itself, has little protection when the seller changes its mind about the price.

Jamaican church boards and individual buyers will recognise the risk. Paying for land in instalments, especially to a public body, can leave the buyer exposed for years if the transfer is delayed and prices rise in the meantime. The protections are the same everywhere: a written sale agreement with a fixed price, clear deadlines for transfer, and legal advice before large sums change hands. For returnees buying land at home, particularly from parish councils or developers, the Gokwe case is a reminder that a receipt and a certificate are not a registered title.

Follow Jamaica Homes on Youtube @jamaicahomes and Instagram @jamaica_homes and on Facebook @jamaicahomesnews Send us a message or email us at onlinefeedback@jamaica-homes.com or editor@jamaica-homes.com