Judgment No. SC 13/18
Civil Appeal No. SC 469/13
Ref. HC 601/11
Ref. HC 9527/11
contract so as to enforce the remaining enforceable portion of that contract. Although this is
not a contractual dispute I find the concept useful in this case to separate that which is
enforceable from that which is not enforceable.
Graphically, that conception in this case can be plotted and visualised as follows:
Lot 3
Lot 2
Size in HA
Lot 1
Lot 1
583.136
Lot 2
412.1091
Lot 3
79.4959
Cecil Michael Reimer sowed the seeds of severability or divisibility when he
subdivided the original land into separate and distinct 3 lots which could easily be identified as
shown above. What emerges quite clearly is that, the severance of lots 2 and 3 from the whole
block of land cannot divest lot 1 of its identity. It remains intact and its gazetting remains extant
despite the severance of lots 2 and 3 from the whole. In the result, the conclusion that lot 1
which is the land in dispute was identified and gazetted is beyond contest. What is in dispute
is the correctness and validity of the process of identification and gazetting of the land for
purposes of compulsory acquisition.
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