Defence (Cantonment) (Zimbabwe Defence Forces) Notice, 2025 (No. 53)

The Minister of Defence has, under section 89 of the Defence Act, declared the areas in the Schedule to be cantonments for the purposes of Part IX of that Act, and repealed the Defence (Cantonments) (Southern Rhodesia) Notice, 1967 — the colonial-era notice that had governed defence land since before independence.

The Schedule is extensive. It begins with the Zimbabwe Military Academy in Gweru: 1 304 hectares of Gweru township land bounded by the CBD and Windsor Park to the north, Coolmoreen and Senga to the east, Shurugwi and Vungu districts to the south and Southdowns, Ivene and Lundi Park to the west, described by survey map sheet and coordinates.

It continues with properties across the country, each described by map sheet, area and coordinates: Balkiza, Little Connemara, Nagenoeg, Tsanga Lodge, Masue Army Camp, the ZDF Officers Mess, Mushandike, Decadrum, the Bikita and Chatsworth rifle ranges, Chikwerengwe cantonment area, Green Valley, Gabriel and Goodhope farms and the Harare Base Workshop, among others.

Cantonment status brings the land under the controls in Part IX of the Defence Act on entry, use and activity. The plans defining each area may be inspected at the office of the Secretary for Defence in Harare.

This notice carries the same number (No. 53) and the same Zimbabwe Military Academy schedule as S.I. 72 of 2025, gazetted eleven days earlier — the two instruments appear to be successive publications of the same exercise.