$27m Land Deal Under Probe

Investigations into the sale last year of 24 hectares of Mount Pleasant Golf Club by Harare City Council to a private developer for almost $27 million with the cash allocated to clearing the salaries backlog are underway.

Among the allegations being investigated are that the then chairperson of council’s Finance Committee, Highfield Councillor Luckson Mukunguma, and a senior municipal official shared a US$90 000 “facilitation fee” and that MDC Alliance leader Mr Nelson Chamisa used his influence over the council, all members of which were elected on the MDC-A ticket, to speed up the process.

In August last year, Clr Mukunguma in his capacity as Finance Committee chairperson, allegedly worked out a plan with officials to sell part of the golf club and approached a local realtor Segimel Investment (Pvt) Limited to look for buyers.

Mr Farai Rwodzi, who had just sold his Zim Alloys company, expressed interest in buying the land through his company, Hard Spec Investment. He agreed to pay $26 923 340 and payment was made in three tranches of $5 million, $20 million and $1 923 340 in January and February this year.

It is at this point that the investigations are centring on allegations of underhand dealings. It is alleged that Clr Mukunguma asked for a US$100 000 facilitation fee and then officials from Segimel Investment inflated this to US$200 000. This would have been worth around $1,6 million at the time. The Herald