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Peter Matambanadzo and Petros Zivengwa
Government has warned that all people involved in the corrupt allocation of land, including council officials in Chitungwiza and Manyame Rural District Council, will be prosecuted.
This comes after an audit revealed that more than 14 000 stands in the two local authorities were illegally allocated.
Chitungwiza has since suspended an official on allegations of corruption while two others resigned on their own.
Local Government, National Housing and Public Works Deputy Minister Cde Joel Biggie Matiza said land barons who were milking poor home seekers of their hard earned cash would face the full wrath of the law.
“We have an audit and the report is public so those implicated will be prosecuted.
“The local authorities have been given the green light to forward the audit report to police for further investigations to enable them to start the prosecution process,” Dep Minister Matiza said.
The Zanu-PF Harare land committee has also warned those using the party’s name and engaging in corrupt activities that they would be arrested.
This also comes at a time when some members of the Zanoremba Housing Co-operative in Chitungwiza were being evicted following double allocation of houses.
“Our audit clearly shows that it’s not (MP) Christopher Chigumba evicting people.
“The individual owners who were allocated the house and have been paying their subscriptions and approached the courts to evict illegal occupants,” Zanu-PF’s Harare secretary for land, Cde Eric Pfumvuti said.
He said this during a meeting with some of the legal owners who were armed with eviction notices at Pagomba in Chitungwiza on Monday.
In an interview Cde Chigumba said about 337 illegal occupants and those who defaulted payment were being evicted.
“More than 300 families are to be evicted and among them are non-paying members of the Zanoremba Housing project who have debts dating back to 2007 and others are illegal occupants,” Mr Chigumba said.
The Herald visited the three families evicted on Monday and said they were evicted by the Messenger of Court last Tuesday.
Supervisor of the housing project Mr Reuben Rusere said the co-operative would assist the evicted families on condition that they continue paying US$30 per month.
“They have to continue paying subscriptions for a minimum of 12 years as agreed while the co-operative is building two roomed core houses for them,” he said.
Zanoremba Housing Co-operative is situated close to Chitungwiza Unit L Extension and the co-operative’s members are mostly low income earners.
The co-operative has already constructed more than 500 houses with the assistance of Cde Chigumba.
At least 1 500 more houses are being built and are at various stages of completion.
Online Reporter