Online Reporter
Yeukai Karengezeka
Court Correspondent
The chairman and secretary of the Light to Disabled Housing Cooperative, Alfred Chikuku (53) and Aaron Madzinga (53), have appeared in court facing charges of defrauding five members of residential stands in Manresa, Mabvuku, valued at US$15 000.
The two were remanded in custody by Harare magistrate Mr Tapiwa Kuhudzai pending a bail ruling.
According to the State, Chikuku and Madzinga, along with an accomplice already on remand, Joseph Komechayana, established the Light to Disabled Housing Cooperative in 2012.
The accused allegedly misled members into believing that the cooperative had secured land from the Harare City Council. Under this false pretext, they convinced the five to make installment payments for residential stands.
Trusting their leaders, the five began making payments through Komechayana.
After some time, the three now accused allocated stand numbers to the complainants, who then developed the land by building structures on their allocated stands.
However, in December last year, the accused convened a meeting with the complainants and informed them that they needed to vacate the stands. They revealed that the land actually belonged to Imbahuru Housing Cooperative, despite having collected payments for over a decade.
The court heard that the victims conducted their own investigation, which confirmed that the land was indeed owned by Imbahuru Housing Cooperative. Following this discovery, they reported the matter to the police, leading to the arrests of Chikuku and Madzinga.
