Police have arrested a suspected land baron behind the
seizure of City of Harare paddocks at Crowborough Farm and illegally settling
desperate home-seekers there.
Pedzisai Mutekedza, who also uses the alias Maregera, was
arrested in a high speed chase with police on Sunday along Marimba-High Glen
Road.
Police sources said a crack team from its District Office
responsible for Glen View, Kuwadzana and Harare South was deployed to arrest
the suspected infamous land baron.
Police are now looking to apprehend Mutekedza’s alleged
accomplices Regina Mangwiro and Tafara Mugarisi.
Mutekedza will likely face charges of public violence,
attempted murder, extortion and assault as he is also accused of attacking a
building contractor with an axe and assaulting several individuals to illegally
occupy the council land.
Mutekedza’s cases have been reported under RRB 3777134 and
RRB 3758319, among other dockets opened against him and his alleged accomplices
at Kuwadzana Police Station. He is expected to appear at Mbare Magistrates
Court today.
The trio is allegedly behind the seizure of City of Harare
paddocks, illegally settling desperate home-seekers and extorting money from
the home-seekers.
Mutekedza is allegedly responsible for grabbing land from
housing cooperatives and allocating it to his “chosen” group.
Mugarisi reportedly pretends to be a member of the security
services, introducing himself as an army official or an officer from Police
General Headquarters (PGHQ) when it suits him.
Mangwiro allegedly duped hundreds of desperate home-seekers
of their money, promising them residential stands.
The trio allegedly scares those who complain by purporting
that they are backed by Zanu-PF.
Police say the suspected criminals were aware of council’s
likely decision to take action to repossess the paddocks and are in the process
of invading other open spaces and building houses on them using funds obtained
from desperate home-seekers.
In 2016, the illegal settlers occupying Crowborough Farm
vandalised Harare City Council’s property that includes pipes and gate valves
after the city started pumping waste water onto the two farms to irrigate
pastures.
The squatters claim the water poses a health hazard to them
and council has tried to evict them on several occasions without success.
President Mnangagwa and Vice President Constantino Chiwenga
recently called for an end to land barons and attempts to abuse the name of the
ruling party in such self-enriching schemes.
Government is also moving to assert property rights which
is a crucial pillar of President Mnangagwa’s economic policy geared towards
ensuring Zimbabwe achieves middle income status by 2030. Herald
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