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Yeukai Karengezeka Court Correspondent
Former Kambuzuma legislator Tinashe Maduza and his accomplice Rast Phiri who allegedly defrauded a home seeker have been granted US$50 bail each today at the Harare Magistrates Court.
Regional Magistrate Mr Donald Ndirowei granted bail to the two after the investigating officer told the court that he did not have any reasons for the pair to be denied bail.
They were remanded to February 26, 2024 pending finalisation of the investigations.
The State alleged that Phiri and Maduza used their housing cooperative, Gracelands Housing Cooperative to illegally sell council land.
The pair allegedly invaded the remainder of Warren Park in 2014 and started to illegally sell the stands under the banner of Gracelands Housing Cooperative.
The two allegedly duped one Victor Magenga into buying a stand on the land despite not having any authority to sell it.
To convince Magenga, Maduza misrepresented that he had the requisite Council approval for Gracelands Housing Project for the remainder of Warren Park and that Harare City Council was going to officially absorb the stands in their system and those that would have paid for the stands will be given stand numbers.
The court heard that Magenga was convinced and got interested in buying a stand from Maduza.
As a result, Maduza took him to his office at Gracelands, where the accused allocated him stand number 1407 in the presence of Phiri.
Thereafter, Magenga paid US$6 000 for the stand and Phiri issued him with a receipt.
They then signed an Agreement of Sale document with Maduza and Phiri signing as the sellers; chairman and secretary respectively and Magenga as the buyer.
Maduza and Phiri then advised Magenga that all communications and rates payment to City of Harare were to be done through their offices.
Magenga is said to have started construction on his house in 2019 and two accused would periodically bring people, who they claimed to be building inspectors from council to conduct stage-inspections.
The State is further alleging that when the water connections were done, Magenga was made to pay all monthly rates to Maduza and Phiri who claimed they would remit it to the city council.
After growing suspicious over the payment arrangement, Magenga reportedly visited the City of Harare and was told that the stand allocations were illegal as the land belonged to council and not to the co-operative.
It is further alleged that from 2014 to date, over 300 beneficiaries have benefited from the illegal allocations and all attempts by the council to evict them have failed.
Maduza has other pending cases before the courts that include fraud, kidnapping and aggravated indecent assault.
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