FORMER finance minister Ignatius Chombo amassed vast tracts
of prime land across the country by grabbing the 20% commonage land which
developers are mandated by the Local Government Act to reserve for the
construction of government premises such as police stations, schools and
offices, the Zimbabwe Independent has learnt.
Local Government ministry sources this week said Chombo,
who was Local Government minister from 2000 to 2015 before being appointed home
affairs minister and subsequently finance minister, grabbed large tracts of
land countrywide before converting some of the plots into residential stands
which he sold at a premium.
The principle, known as commonage, compels land developers
to surrender 20% of serviced residential stands and all the commercial and
institutional stands when developing state land to the local authority. Chombo
used this loophole to amass a lot of land countrywide.
“Developers are mandated to reserve 20% of the land where
they will be servicing for residential stands so that the local councils can
construct offices or schools,” an official said. “However, Chombo made sure
that some of the commonage land in several cities around the country was
registered in his name and he would later subdivide it into residential stands
which were sold to people.”
Chombo’s vast wealth came to light during a messy divorce
with his wife Marian in 2010.
In court documents, Marian exposed that Chombo owned
countless houses as well as a vast portfolio of commercial and residential
stands around the country.
She revealed that he had two flats in Queensdale, a flat at
San Sebastian Flats in the Avenues as well as a property at 79 West Road in
Avondale, 36 Cleveland Road, Milton Park, 135 Port Road, Norton, a house in
Greendale, two Bulawayo houses, among other assets.
He also owns the property at 18 Cuba Road in Mount
Pleasant, 45 Basset Crescent in Alexandra Park, 1037 Mount Pleasant Heights and
several houses in Chegutu and Kariba.
Chombo had 20 stands in Crow Hill, Borrowdale, and 10
stands in Glen Lorne and some stands in Avondale.
He also had houses in high-density suburbs including Glen
View (two) a property in Katanga Township, four business stands in Norton,
three business stands in Chinhoyi and four business stands in Banket.
In addition, he had four commercial stands in Kariba,
stands in Ruwa, Chinhoyi, Binga, Zvimba, Victoria Falls, Beitbridge and
Chirundu. He also owns a commercial stand in Epworth.
Chombo also owns vehicles which include four Toyota Land
Cruisers, Mercedes-Benzes (three), Mahindra, Nissan Wolfs (two), Toyota Vigo,
Mazda BT-50, a bus, Nissan Hardbody and a Toyota Hilux.
He was seized by the military on November 14 when former
president Robert Mugabe was placed under house arrest.
He was dumped at his house on November 23, but was
immediately arrested by the police. He appeared before magistrate Elisha
Singalo facing three counts of corruption.
In the first count, Chombo was accused of fraudulently
forging documents that included a lease to acquire Subdivisions “K” Portion of
Nthaba portion of Glen Lorne from City of Harare where he is said to have
signed and fabricated a fraudulent lease agreement on January 1 1997. City of
Harare is said to have been prejudiced of US$900 000.
On the second count, which is criminal abuse of duty by a
public officer, Chombo is accused of having received an application from City
of Harare for a change of use for an open space in Helensvale into a
residential area in September 2006.
He allegedly used his ministerial power as the Local
Government minister to allocate it to a company he co-owns, called Harvest Net
Enterprises. The property is worth US$2,7 million.
On the third count, Chombo is accused of defrauding the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe through the Crops and Livestock Support Facility where
he received US$414 billion in Zimbabwean dollars. Zimbabwe Independent
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