High Court Stops Planned Exhumation of Johanne Masowe's Remains in Rusape

Baba Johanne Masowe

In a judgment delivered by Justice Regis Dembure, the court found that the March 10 decision approving the exhumation of Peter Jack Masedza, widely known as Baba Johanne Masowe, from a shrine in Gandanzara, Rusape, violated provisions of the Administrative Justice Act.

“It is declared that the decision… giving authority to third and fourth respondents to exhume the remains… is in violation of section 3(1) of the Administrative Justice Act and is accordingly set aside,” Justice Dembure ruled.

The long-running dispute involves the Gospel of God Church International and Masowe’s sons, Magaga and Reuben Masedza, who have sought for years to rebury their father away from the church shrine where he was interred in 1973.

According to the ruling, the Registrar who authorised the exhumation acted on the mistaken belief that earlier court judgments had already approved the removal of the remains.

“There was no such order, the courts had merely confirmed the third and fourth respondents’ procedural right to seek exhumation before the Minister, subject to due process being followed,” Dembure said.

The court further ruled that mandatory procedures outlined in the Cemeteries Act had not been followed. Justice Dembure noted that the law requires notices of intended exhumation to be published in the Government Gazette and newspapers for three consecutive months.

“The provisions of s38(5) of the Cemeteries Act are peremptory. The law is clear that anything done contrary to peremptory statutory provisions is a nullity,” the judge ruled.

The court also criticised a public notice issued by one of Masowe’s sons inviting objections within 30 days, saying the process failed to comply with statutory requirements.

“That is not the process undertaken in terms of s38(5) of the Cemeteries Act,” Dembure said.

The exhumation had been scheduled for April 2 before the church launched an urgent application to stop the process.

The legal battle over the influential religious leader’s burial site has spanned more than two decades. In 2003, one of Masowe’s sons unsuccessfully sought access to the shrine to visit his father’s grave, while renewed litigation emerged in 2023 after the family formally pursued exhumation and reburial plans. Justice Dembure ruled that the matter must now return to the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage for a lawful determination after all parties have been heard. The court also ordered Masowe’s sons to pay legal costs.

Johanne Masowe exhumation