Chitungwiza Municipality is battling to reverse a deal in which an individual was allocated 36,8 hectares of public land to build houses, schools and shops in the town without any payment made to council, at a time thousands on council’s waiting list are struggling to acquire stands as small as 200 square metres.
In any case Chitungwiza limits land holdings to two
residential and two commercial stands on public land.
Businessman Mr Chenjerai Tarcious Madamombe was allocated
8ha in Nyatsime Phase 1 and 2 to build a primary and secondary school, another
18,55ha for residential and commercial development at Dunotar Farm in the
Nyatsime area and 17 residential and commercial stands in Seke South totalling
9,83ha.
The land deal was struck years ago during the tenure of
ex-Chitungwiza housing director Ms Jemina Gumbo who signed a deed of settlement
without the legally required council resolution, without any payment and
without Mr Madamombe even applying for the stands. Council sought to nullify
the leases after realising that the proper procedures and approval had not been
given but Mr Madamombe contested the nullification in court.
While the matter was still in court, Ms Gumbo reportedly
went further and signed a deed of settlement, surrendering the whole 36,8ha to
Mr Madamombe.
Chitungwiza Municipality recently approached the High Court
seeking an order nullifying this deed of settlement signed by Ms Gumbo with the
local authority through lawyers Matsikidze Attorneys at Law desperately
battling to have the land deal cancelled.
They argue that the settlement was signed contrary to both
public policy and the laws of Zimbabwe in that it leased large and extensive
pieces of land as stated in the deed of settlement, to an individual. The
council noted that Chitungwiza’s housing procedure does not allow an individual
to own more than two residential and two commercial properties on public land,
with all land in the municipality being public land until buyers finally obtain
their title deeds.
Not only did Ms Gumbo sign away the land without authority,
the council cannot find any applications for lease agreements for any of the
stands and cannot find any proof of payment.
Council contends that two other stands measuring thousands
of square metres were allocated to Madamombe Sports Academy, which it contends
is a non-existent entity and is certainly not registered. In any case Mr
Madamombe has now told the council that the leasehold is held by him
personally.
“The other piece of land being stands 19700 to 19771 were allegedly awarded to a non-existent legal person called Madamombe Sports Academy, a non-registered entity, contrary to the law that a lease can only be granted to a natural person or artificial person and strangely, the first defendant (Madamombe) is claiming the piece of land to be under his leasehold in person,” read council documents.
Stand Number 19770 allocated to Mr Madamombe in Seke South
measures 26 000 square metres (2,6ha) while stand numbers 19774 to 19779
measure a total of 24 108 square metres. Mr Madamombe also got stands 19787 to
19790 measuring about 3 000 square metres each.
Mr Madamombe is not new to land disputes as he once clashed
with Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa’s United Family International Church (UFIC)
over stand number 19770
He once claimed occupancy of the land where UFIC’s 30
million structure near Town Centre in Chitungwiza was built.
Council later split the stand and later still offered Mr
Madamombe alternative land in Nyatsime. Herald
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