By Correspondent
Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume has been accused of dragging his own Council to Court and then blocking it from challenging the application so as to win a default judgement in a raging land scandal.
Daniel Garwe, the Minister of Local Government, made the shocking allegations while defending himself from accusations that he is involved in the scandal.
Garwe says Mafume is linked to Aspire Elite Incorporated, which has dragged the Council to Court in a dispute over land.
Aspire made the application together with three other entities, which are Clean Burn Energy, owned by Shadreck Mashayamombe; Gemdale Investments, owned by a Chinese businessman named Giene; and Diexodos Marketing, linked to Deputy Mayor Rosemary Muronda.
The four companies allegedly owned land which the Council wanted to repossess and hand over to Logara Properties.
Garwe allegedly ordered the transfer of the Newlands land to Logara Properties and instructed the Harare City Council to defy a High Court order that had acknowledged the land belonged to the four companies that initiated its layout plan.
In a rambling statement, Garwe has since denied the allegation and has accused Mafume of criminal conduct.
Minister Garwe’s Statement Against Mafume
“I have no business in taking land that is not mine. I have enough land of my own.
“Why should I do that? When we further investigated, we discovered that the companies were owned by senior council employees, including the mayor, the deputy mayor, and then Shadrack Mashayamombe.
“I can mention Shadrack Mashayamombe because he’s a land baron.
“So the Mayor sat here with his team and reported council to the courts and did not disclose to the acting Chamber Secretary to go and defend the person of council.
“And the default judgement was granted.
“Basically, the Mayor was suing himself.
“The Mayor and his team were suing themselves because they are the local authority and they (also) own these companies.
“That is what The Standard (newspaper) was now flashing and saying they are the legitimate companies. They are not legitimate companies.
“Four companies were created.
“They created some leases, but as you are aware, in terms of the Urban Councils Act, you don’t just acquire council land without seeking an audience with the neighbourhood.
“The neighbourhood resisted that, and we are told that we don’t have facts now, we are told that negotiations were done between one of the neighbours who was very vocal, the neighbourhood, and then the council was allowed to do the development.
Lofty Visions As Defence
Minister Garwe says his pursuit of the arrangement with Logara is premised on seeking to fulfil Vision 2030.
“We want to move in line with National Development Strategy 2 in line with Vision 2030.
“So we have no time to be just sitting and talking and sitting and talking.
“We agreed on that.
Garwe claimed Logara would invest US$70 million in a greenfield project if they got the land.
Mafume, Mashayamombe and Muronda were arrested recently after Marvis Java approached the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) claiming that she had been sold a non-existent commercial stand in Newlands.
Mafume was released on the same day, while Muronda and Mashayamombe were each granted US$500 bail on Friday after Java withdrew the charges against them.
