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Blessings Chidakwa
Herald Reporter
The tactics used by Harare city councillors to loot council through land grabs and bypassing laid down land allocation procedures were yesterday exposed to the Commission of Inquiry into the Governance of the city.
Councillors, mostly from CCC, were spearheading the invasion of land by either proxies or well-known land barons, then selling the illegal subdivisions and then pushing for regularisation.
Investigations revealed that a 200 square metre stand would be sold for about US$3 000, with the city benefiting nothing while councillors through a resolution would then push for regulation of those stands that had been created and sold without going through the compulsory planning process.
Giving evidence before the commission yesterday was city housing director Mr Addmore Nhekairo, who was also accused of spearheading the illegal land allocations to top directors and was further accused of failing to deal with the menace of well-known land barons grabbing land countrywide.
The housing director conceded that the land allocation process was in a shambles amid interference from councillors, the majority being from CCC.
“The waiting list is not being adhered to. It is obsolete. The non-availability of a computerised waiting list has led to corruption. I agree that the process of regularisation has also circumvented the normal allocation process. The allocation grows in numbers just before and after elections,” he said.
The commission of inquiry accused Harare City Council of abandoning the once thriving waiting list system, with Mr Nhekairo saying the council is engaging with the Harare Institute of Technology to correct the anomaly.
“Large tracts of land were sold to people not on the waiting list through issues of regularisation,” he said
Mr Nhekairo was also castigated for failing to maintain city council flats among them the Matapi hostels which are inhabitable.
The housing director was also quizzed on the state of social amenities including Gwanzura Stadium which is no longer in use. “We concede that Gwanzura stadium is not usable, but our action plan for next year is to start fixing it. We have completed Rufaro to a stage where it can host the local premier league,” he said.
Mr Nhekairo also struggled to explain why the city’s assets register failed to incorporate about 40 council houses in the town of Norton used by officials at Morton Jaffray Water Works.
He is expected to give more supporting evidence on the selection and allocation of stands to top directors in the leafy suburb of Greystone Park and Mt Pleasant with one stand being in Eastlea.
The five-member Commission of Inquiry into the Governance of the Harare City Council chaired by Retired High Court Judge Justice Maphios Cheda was appointed by President Mnangagwa.
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