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Talent Bope Herald Reporter
University students under the banner of the Students for Economic Development (S4ED) have petitioned the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission over the demolition of informal business structures by Harare City Council near Matapi Police Station in Mbare, since they believe these demolitions were illegal.
The youths contend that the demolitions were carried out by the Harare City Council at the instigation of a local businessman on the basis of a court order which appears anomalous.
Head of S4ED’s University of Zimbabwe chapter Mr Obvious Mutizwa said copies of the petition were delivered to the Judicial Service Commission and the National Prosecuting Authority. ZACC has acknowledged receiving the petition .
The demolitions were carried out in October this year after the city council leased to Ajara Transport and Logistics (Pvt) Ltd, a 5 000 square metre business stand at Mukuvisi in Mbare which S4ED says was brokered unprocedurally.
The lease, bearing the signature of the former Town Clerk Engineer Hosiah Chisango and deputy mayor Clr Enock Mupamawonde, was signed in August 2020 during the peak of Covid-19 which prompted the students to question its authenticity.
They questioned whether the agreement was agreed at a full council meeting as required.
S4ED also flagged the court order granted to both HCC and Mr Ronald Ajara insisting it was also granted when the country was under the highest level of shutdown when only urgent matters were being heard by the courts.
“The judgment delivered during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic when governments all over the whole world were instituting strict lockdowns to contain the spread of the pandemic in line with the World Health Organisation guidelines,” said Mr Mutizwa.
The affected youths were operating under the Mukuvisi Business Park club, which is a properly constituted youth club, which is also an affiliate of the S4ED, whose vision is to bolster socio-economic development in a sustainable manner.
“We trust the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary affairs to uphold justice. We call on the ministry to exercise its powers and functions in line with your objectives by investigating.
“The court order under discussion within 14 working days. As responsible students we stand in solidarity with President Mnangagwa in fighting corruption towards a better Zimbabwe by 2030,” reads the petition to the Ministry.
The students said under normal circumstances, the deputy sheriff should have been involved in the displacement of the youths and not the police only.
They alleged that Mr Ajara was the one who directed front-end loader operators to demolish the youths’ business structures without the involvement of the sheriff who should task the police to back such operations.
“The 300 youths operated vending stalls at stand number 4 0783 Cripps Road, Mukuvisi measuring more than 5 000 square metres since 2005 and have been paying fees to the council.
“Mukuvisi Business Park youths applied for a lease on the 28th of August 2019 to use the piece of land but were discriminated against on political basis which is a violation of section 20(1) and 20(3) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.”
“Over 300 youths had their goods and properties worth thousands of dollars demolished by the Harare City Council on 6 October 2022. Harare City Council acted unlawfully in that it went on to execute a court order without a writ of execution.
“The deputy sheriff of the High Court of Zimbabwe had the legal mandate to execute the court order but he was not there during the execution. This alone amounts to a legal farce as due process was not followed hence we deem it to be null and void pending your investigations,” reads the petition.
Mr Mutizwa said they stood with the youths as the demolition opposed the fundamental objectives of the Government to economically empower the youths.
Mr Mutizwa said he suspected some irregularities in the execution of the judgment.
“The execution of the court order and the leasing of the said piece of land is plagued with gross irregularities and we suspect underhand dealings. Hence the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs must urgently investigate the said court order and its execution,” said Mr Mutizwa.
“As an empowerment group which supports our Government’s efforts of attaining economic renaissance, we doubt the court order and its execution were bona fide. We are behind our colleagues who suffered severe losses owing to the demolitions,” he said.
The Mukuvisi Business Park club was formed through the assistance of Zanu PF’s DCC Zone 6, and the contentious lease agreement showed that Mr Ajara was supposed to occupy 5 000 square metres instead of the 10 000 squares he was claiming in a letter he wrote to Zanu PF Youth Harare Provincial Chairman Cde Emmanuel Mahachi requesting assistance to disband the business union.
Mr Chisango last week said he could not remember if he appended his signature to the lease agreement between council and Ajara Transport.
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