BULAWAYO – Bulawayo provincial magistrate Beverley Madzikatire has ordered Umguza Rural District Council to release a vehicle it seized from an inter-denominational organisation after accusing its driver of illegally transporting firewood.

The Mazda B2500, belonging to Churches in Bulawayo, was seized on June 6, 2026, while being driven by the organisation’s treasurer, Fidel Dube, along the Nkayi-Bulawayo Road.

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), which represented Dube and Churches in Bulawayo, said council officials identifying themselves as rangers stopped Dube as he travelled with his family from their farm in Bubi District.

“The URDC officials stopped Dube along the Nkayi-Bulawayo Road as he was travelling together with his family in the vehicle from their farm in Bubi district and informed him that he had been stopped for transporting firewood without a licence,” ZLHR said in a statement update issued on Tuesday.

Dube told the officials that the firewood had been felled at his family’s farm and was intended for domestic use at the family home in Trenance suburb, Bulawayo.

Despite the explanation, ZLHR said, the officials ordered Dube to drive the vehicle to the council’s offices in Reigate, where he was instructed to lock it up.

He was issued with a penalty ticket and ordered to pay a US$500 fine for allegedly transporting firewood without a permit, in violation of section 8(e) of the Umguza Rural District Council (Communal and Resettlement Land) (Land Use and Conservation) By-laws, Statutory Instrument 179 of 1996.

Dube subsequently made several visits to the council seeking the release of the vehicle and wrote to its chief executive officer arguing that the seizure was unlawful.

“However, the local authority responded in a two-sentence letter stating that the impounding of the vehicle was lawful,” ZLHR said.

Dube then obtained a resolution from Churches in Bulawayo authorising legal action and instructed ZLHR lawyers Prisca Dube and Sipho Moyo.

On July 15, the lawyers wrote to the council demanding the release of the vehicle within 48 hours.

ZLHR said the lawyers argued that the seizure was not justified under the Forest (Control of Firewood, Timber and Forest Produce) Regulations, 2012, or the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, which provide the legal framework for the confiscation of vehicles involved in the unlawful transportation of firewood.

“The human rights lawyers also indicated that the fine charged by URDC was excessive and not in line with the provisions of the law,” ZLHR said.

When the council did not release the vehicle, the lawyers filed an application at the Bulawayo Magistrates Court on July 24 seeking its release.

ZLHR said they argued that the continued seizure of the vehicle violated Churches in Bulawayo’s constitutional right to property because there was no lawful basis for its continued detention.

A key part of their argument was that the council by-law cited on the penalty ticket regulates the collection or removal of firewood from communal and resettlement land within the council’s jurisdiction.

“The lawyers contended that the by-law cited in the Penalty Ticket, being section 8(e) of the URDC (Communal and Resettlement Land) (Land Use and Conservation) By-laws, Statutory Instrument 179 of 1996, regulates the collection or removal of firewood in communal and resettlement land within URDC’s jurisdiction,” ZLHR said.

“The firewood, which Dube was transporting, was collected and removed outside URDC’s jurisdiction. The lawyers said this meant that URDC’s by-laws do not apply in Dube’s matter and hence it makes the seizure of the firewood and the vehicle illegal, as the URDC’s officials lacked lawful authority to seize it.”

ZLHR said its lawyers also argued that the national regulations did not criminalise Dube’s conduct because the firewood had been felled for domestic use and was below the prescribed threshold.

“Dube and Moyo charged that in terms of the Forest (Control of Firewood, Timber and Forest Produce) Regulations, 2012 (Statutory Instrument 116 of 2012), firewood felled for domestic use does not fall within the scope of the regulations and transporting it does not constitute an offence,” ZLHR said.

The lawyers argued that the regulations create an offence where more than 0.5 cubic metres of firewood is transported in a single consignment without a permit.

“Hence only in such a scenario can the firewood and the vehicle be seized by designated officials,” ZLHR said.

“The firewood, which Dube was transporting, the lawyers said, did not exceed 0.5 cubic metres and the URDC’s officials did not prove this to the contrary despite his demands.”

In her ruling on August 12, Madzikatire ordered Umguza Rural District Council to release the vehicle, bringing to an end its more than two-month detention.

ZLHR said Churches in Bulawayo had suffered harm because it had been deprived of a vehicle used in carrying out its activities.

The ruling followed the application filed by Dube and Churches in Bulawayo on July 24 after the council refused to release the vehicle despite repeated demands.