Govt probes housing scheme

Abel Zhakata Senior Reporter
GOVERNMENT has set up a five-member probe team to investigate anomalies at Mutare’s Gimboki South Housing Scheme in which more than 5 000 beneficiaries have lost millions of dollars due to corruption, fraud and rampant abuse of depositors’ funds. Manicaland Provincial Administrator, Mr Fungai Mbetsa, revealed this week that the team which began its work about a month ago was set up by the ministry following several complaints that were lodged by some members of the housing project.
Among other duties, he said, the mandate of the team was to investigate cases of double allocations, fraud, corruption and willful abuse of money deposited by beneficiaries towards the development of high-density stands at the restive scheme.

“In the next two weeks, the team is supposed to give me its findings regarding the housing scheme. Several complaints and reports have been made by beneficiaries alleging that they are losing out money due to corruption, while some were aggrieved by numerous cases of double allocations. We hope that all these concerns will be captured in the report after which Government will take corrective measures to bring order at the scheme as well as ensure that those who took people’s money pay back,” he said.

An executive member of the Mutare Housing Consortium, which is mandated to run the housing scheme, said the probe team would unearth a litany of cases in which unsuspecting beneficiaries were duped of millions of dollars.

“Those with dirty hands are living in constant fear because their crimes will be exposed. Some of them were busy coercing beneficiaries not to divulge sensitive information to the probe team that links them to the looting of funds at the scheme. The team has since ordered every cooperative to bring its accounts books and bank statements to scrutinise how much money was deposited since the beginning of the scheme in July 2007,” said the member who requested anonymity.

In recent weeks, the issue of double allocations made headlines as beneficiaries dragged each other to court over ownership wrangles. Those privy to the developments at the scheme said crooks were busy parceling out stands to people who are not on the initial beneficiaries’ list, pocketing thousands of dollars in the process.

This has set the new stand owners on a collision course with bonafide beneficiaries who joined the scheme in 2007 when it began. As the situation turns into a free-for-all the consortium now wants the Mutare City Council to take over the scheme and complete it. “Right now beneficiaries are not paying those monthly subscriptions to fund stand development. This has stalled progressed, subsequently forcing the beneficiaries to come and settle on un-serviced pieces of land. In light of this, the consortium has proposed that the local authority should take over the scheme and develop the remaining stands.”

However, Town Clerk, Mr Obert Muzawazi, has insisted that council will only take over the scheme if all members of the consortium audit their books and show how they used the money they collected from people develop the stands. He said those who abused funds must be made to repay beneficiaries and not for the local authority to be used to clean up the mess left by crooks.

Mr Muzawazi said it was suicidal for the local authority to jump and take control of a project that is riddled with allegations of massive funds embezzlement and corruption. “Yes, as council we want to help out beneficiaries and ensure that they get their stands but we cannot jump and take control of books that are not audited. We want a thorough forensic audited to be carried out in order to ascertain how much has been paid by members since 2007. Those who took people’s money must come out clean and we need to know how much was misappropriated.

When that happens we will call the police and arrest thieves. That audit, which must be done before council can chip in, must provide the list of bona fide beneficiaries who joined the scheme in 2007. These are the rightful owners of the stands that need to be serviced not incidences of double allocations that are happening on site.

“The land we are talking about does not belong to the consortium, it belongs to council. It is illegal for some members of the consortium to unilaterally settle people on un-serviced land without council approval. What pains most is that we have urged beneficiaries to stop payments to some groups but up to this day they are doing so, risking the hard earned money they have,” he said.