Ezekiel Chinoingira v Sabre Services (Private) Limited & Balwearie Holdings (Private) Limited

The appellant sought to interdict the respondents from evicting him from a farm known as the Remainder of West Hay Sabona Bon without a court order through an urgent application. The second respondent raised a point in limine that the appellant had sued a non-existent entity, namely Balware Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, as the first respondent. On 8 July 2020, the High Court had dissolved the first respondent as a company under case number HC 2860/20. The High Court struck the matter off the roll, upholding the point in limine. The appellant appealed against the entire judgment of the High Court.

• Whether the appellant could maintain an action against a company that had been dissolved by court order
• Whether the High Court was correct in striking the matter off the roll on the basis that the first respondent was a non-existent legal entity
• Whether an order dissolving a company is binding on the parties and the world at large as a judgment in rem

The appeal was dismissed with costs.

A court order dissolving a company is a judgment in rem that is binding on the parties and the world at large. Once a company has been dissolved by such an order, it is a non-existent legal entity and cannot be sued in legal proceedings. An application brought against a dissolved company is fatally defective and liable to be struck off the roll.

The judgment was delivered ex-tempore at the conclusion of submissions by counsel, with written reasons provided subsequently at the request of counsel for the first respondent. The Court noted that no appearance was made for the appellant or the second respondent at the hearing.

This case affirms the principle that a court order dissolving a company is a judgment in rem that is binding on the parties and the world at large. It confirms that once a company has been dissolved by court order, it ceases to exist as a legal entity and cannot be sued in legal proceedings. The case reinforces procedural requirements in Zimbabwean civil litigation regarding the necessity of suing existing legal entities.