Extensive land fraud involving councillors and council
executives is now suspected to be widespread and the Special Anti-Corruption
Unit (SACU) is spearheading a nationwide probe on the main urban councils to
arrest and prosecute all corrupt elements.
The head of SACU Mr Thabani Mpofu said the illegal land
deals recently unearthed in Harare were not peculiar to the capital city alone.
Preliminary reports show that probable corruption was also rife in other cities
like Mutare, Bulawayo, Gweru and Masvingo.
Mr Mpofu said SACU will work with other investigating arms,
the police and the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), to investigate
the cases.
“There is a comprehensive investigation into massive
corrupt land allocations in most urban cities. We received information that the
malpractices noted in the recent Harare land scandal, are also happening in
other major urban centres like Bulawayo, Mutare, Masvingo and Gweru.
“The emerging thread shows that councillors are working
with executive council officials to corruptly parcel out or allocate themselves
tracts of land. To that end, SACU and all State institutions involved in
fighting corruption are now seized with the investigations. There will be no
sacred cows. Those caught on the wrong side of the law will be prosecuted
without fear or favour,” he said.
SACU was appointed by President Mnangagwa in 2018 to
collaborate with the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) and the
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and other such institutions in the fight against
corruption.
It is also responsible for assisting ZACC and other investigative agencies of the
State in the perusal and consideration of corruption dockets, subject to the
issuance of authority to prosecute by the Prosecutor General.
It also prosecutes corruption cases referred to the
National Prosecuting Authority by investigative agencies.
The overall objectives of the unit are to improve
efficiency in the fight against all forms of corruption and to strengthen and
improve the effectiveness of the national mechanisms for the prevention and
fight against corruption in accordance with the anti-corruption strategy.
Over a dozen Harare City Council officials, including MDC
Alliance Mayor Herbert Gomba, human resources and former housing director
Matthew Marara, the city’s town planner Samuel Nyabeze and surveyor Munyaradzi
Bowa have been arrested over the $1 million Kuwadzana stands scandal and the
efforts to cover up the illegal deal.
Some were arrested for corrupt land deals done in other
parts of Harare.
But their arrest could just be a tip of the iceberg of the
rot in MDC Alliance run councils countrywide that have been invaded by the
party heavyweights to finance their fancy lives, sponsor subversion as well as
set a war chest for the 2023 elections.
Top police officers — an Assistant Commissioner and a
Superintendent — were arrested together with two junior officers for allegedly
covering up for the scandal in their investigations. A chief public prosecutor
in the National Prosecuting Authority was also arrested over the scandal after
being allocated a stand, allegedly as a pay-off.
Investigations are still ongoing in Harare with indications
that more could be arrested over the saga.
Several other politicians have been implicated in the
Harare City Council corruption saga, most being members of the opposition
MDC-A, which is running the affairs of Harare.
They were allocated stands without following the proper
procedure.
As part of the corruption, a process that could take weeks
or months to complete would be done in less than two hours, while council
resolutions could be fast-tracked to ensure those who were sold the residential
stands, often jumped the housing waiting list and had their residential stands
in a matter of hours.
Residents in all Harare suburbs, have been complaining for
several years that public open spaces on council land, and in particular
wetlands, are suddenly rezoned for development without any of the required
planning procedures and that a developer suddenly appears. Even if the rezoning
was justified, questions arise over how a particular developer for council land
is chosen, or allowed in without any competitive bidding. Herald
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