Chronicle Editor
The findings of the Justice Tendai Uchena-led Land Commission has exposed the level of corruption in both the public and private sector. Individuals within Government and the private sector corruptly benefited from State land, a finite resource that should be enjoyed by all Zimbabweans. Political heavy heavyweights were flexing their muscles to grab State land for themselves and their cronies.
In some cases, individuals that had been properly allocated land for housing development had their land grabbed by these influential people without compensation.
The findings of the Land Commission show that there was total chaos in the parcelling out of land in urban areas especially in big cities like Harare.
Cabinet Ministers, senior civil servants, senior police officers and other influential individuals were abusing their positions to illegally enrich themselves from State land.
The Land Commission has since handed over its report to State arms for further investigations. According to the Land Commission report, junior police officers who were supposed to benefit from a housing project in Hatcliffe, Harare, and were allocated stands in 2011, are still waiting for their houses to be built amid fears their contributions could have been abused.
We want to appeal to the State arms to move in quickly to clean up the mess in the allocation of urban land and ensure the guilty have not only been punished but should also lose their ill-gotten wealth. Those that have been prejudiced by these corrupt individuals should be compensated.
The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission has a mammoth task to rid society of these undesirable elements. Corruption had been institutionalised to the extent that those engaging in corruption were being rewarded instead of being punished.
Corrupt Cabinet ministers were being promoted and the same was happening in all Government departments including the police. It was a free-for-all hence police officers could afford to build double storey mansions at Gletywin Farm in Harare.
What is frightening is that individuals could do as they pleased to the extent of changing land use for their benefit. There is a need for Government to quickly move in to address the disorder in the allocation of urban land which totally disregarded layout plans for urban expansion.
We want to once again implore Government arms that have been asked to conduct further investigations to move in quickly because most of the groundwork has been done by the Land Commission which we want at this juncture to applaud for doing a thorough job.
There is urgent need to address this anarchy which is mainly to blame for the mushrooming of unplanned settlements in urban areas.
Online Reporter