LAND SURVEY ACT (as amended at March 2004) by such objection undertakes in writing to accept the award of an arbitrator or arbitrators to be appointed by the Surveyor-General as final and conclusive upon all matters in dispute in connection with any such beacon or boundary, and in regard to the costs of or incidental to such arbitration, appoint such arbitrator or arbitrators to determine such matters and costs, and his or their award thereon shall thereupon be final and conclusive. (8) If any person who has lodged any such objection fails so to undertake, he may, if he was in Zimbabwe upon the date upon which he was called upon to accept the award of an arbitrator or arbitrators as aforesaid, within one month, and if he was not in Zimbabwe on such date, within three months after such date, institute an action in the Court to determine any such matter, or if the State is one of the persons affected by such objection, proceed to arbitration in respect of any such matter under any other enactment relating to the settlement of disputes by arbitration; and if he fails within such period to institute such action or to proceed to such arbitration, as the case may be, he shall be deemed to have agreed to such beacons, boundaries and diagram. and beacons of such land as determined by such judgment or award. (2) Any such judgment or award shall determine in what proportions the costs of any survey for the purpose of framing such diagram or otherwise giving effect to such judgment or award, and of such endorsement or rectification, shall be borne by the owners of any land affected by such judgment or award. (3) The Surveyor-General shall furnish the Registrar with a description of any land in respect or which an endorsement or rectification of the existing title is required in terms of subsection (1), and thereafter no registration of such land or any portion thereof or undivided share therein shall be effected in the Deeds Registry until the owner has taken such steps as may be necessary in accordance with the law relating to the registration of deeds to procure the endorsement or rectification of the relative title deeds thereof. 21 Rules for arbitrators In deciding what are the true and correct beacons or boundaries common to two contiguous pieces of land, an arbitrator appointed under this Act shall take into consideration the particular circumstances of each particular case, but shall generally be guided by the following principles— (a) the original beacons of a piece of land, as erected or adopted at the original survey thereof, if any, shall be deemed to define the true boundaries of such land as granted or transferred, notwithstanding that such beacons may not correspond with the original diagram or may not include the extent of land which the title deed of such land purports to convey; (b) when well-ascertained beacons have, for an uninterrupted period of not less than thirty years, been recognized by the parties to the dispute, or their predecessors in title, as the true and correct beacons, such beacons shall be taken to be the original beacons: Provided that no land which is clearly not included nor intended to be included in the title deed of a piece of land may be included in a new diagram of that piece of land, notwithstanding that it may have been used or occupied for the period of prescription by the owner of such piece of land, or his predecessors in title, to the exclusion of others; (c) if any land included within the original beacons and boundaries of a grant has afterwards been included within the beacons and boundaries of a later grant, the right to the overlap conferred by the older grant shall, subject to paragraph (b), prevail. 19 Diagram of land surveyed under direction of Surveyor-General (1) Section eighteen, other than subsections (7) and (8) thereof, shall not apply in regard to the survey under the direction of the Surveyor-General of any piece of land to which no title deed has been issued and which is not represented on any diagram registered in the Deeds Registry or the Surveyor-General’s office, but before approving the diagram of any such land the Surveyor-General shall cause a notice to be published in one issue of a statutory instrument and once every week during two consecutive weeks in a newspaper circulating in the district in which such land is situate, stating that a diagram of such land is lying for inspection at the Surveyor-General’s office and that if no objection is received within thirty days from the first publication of such notice, such diagram will be approved by the Surveyor-General: Provided that such publication shall not be required if, in the opinion of the Surveyor-General, the rights of any contiguous owner will not be adversely affected by the approval of such diagram. (2) If within such period any owner of land contiguous to the land represented by such diagram lodges with the Surveyor-General an objection to such diagram or to any beacon or boundary adopted in the survey of such lastmentioned land, and any dispute arising from such objection cannot be settled by agreement of the parties thereto, subsections (7) and (8) of section eighteen shall apply, mutatis mutandis. 22 Approval of diagram of portion of unsurveyed land No diagram of any portion of an unsurveyed piece of land registered in the Deeds Registry shall be approved by the Surveyor-General until a survey has been made of the whole of such piece of land and a new title deed has been registered on the basis of such survey. 20 Rectification of title deeds after determination of boundary dispute (1) Whenever a dispute in regard to any boundary or beacon of contiguous pieces of land has been finally determined by the judgment of the Court or by the award of arbitrators, the owners of any land affected by such judgment or award, or such of them as may be specially directed thereby, shall take such steps as may be necessary in accordance with the law relating to the registration of deeds to procure either the endorsement or rectification of the relative title deeds thereof, as the Surveyor-General may direct: Provided that such endorsement or rectification shall be based upon a diagram correctly representing the boundaries 23 Replacing incorrect diagram by new diagram after re-survey (1) Whenever it is alleged that the diagram or diagrams of any land registered or filed in the Deeds Registry or the Surveyor-General’s office (in this section referred to as the existing diagram or diagrams) does or do not correctly represent the boundaries of such land, the owner thereof may apply to the Surveyor-General for the cancellation of the existing diagram or diagrams and the approval in lieu thereof of a new diagram of such land: Provided that section eighteen shall apply, mutatis mutandis, in regard to such new diagram and to all matters in 8