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Prosper Dembedza Herald Correspondent
Four village heads from Dema have appeared in court on allegations of selling stands in undesignated places and pocketing the proceeds.
Lewis Murisa (64), Kenneth Kuora (64), Rich Musona (44) and Joshua Nechiwa (46) were facing charges of contravening the Regional Town and Country Planning Act when they appeared before Harare Magistrate Mr Donald Ndirowei.
The court heard that Manyame Rural District Council has a service centre named Murisa within its area of Jurisdiction which comprises Murisa Village, Kuora Village, Musona Village and Nechiwa Village. Prior to the acquisition and incorporation of the service centre into Manyame RDC, each village was headed by a village head.
It is the State’s case that in 2013, Murisa Service Centre was regularised for urban development after Manyame Rural District Council planned the area and allocated residential, commercial, institutional and industrial stands to deserving beneficiaries.
Some beneficiaries developed their properties after being allocated by the Council. The acquisition, planning and incorporation of the Service Centre under Manyame Rural District Council did not go down well with the accused persons.
The court heard that it is against this background that from the period extending from 2015 to 2023, the four accused persons acting in connivance unlawfully pegged and parcelled residential stands on open spaces and undesignated areas which they sold to desperate and unsuspecting home seekers and pocketed the proceeds.
In some instances, the accused displaced bonafide beneficiaries and replaced them with their chosen people.
The offence came to light after there was an outcry in the affected areas when all open spaces and river banks were occupied by haphazardly built houses. As a result, Manyame Rural District Council officials visited the area and made a report to the Police leading to the arrest of the quartet.
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