Nhau News Online News that is accurate, reliable, trustworthy!!
The Harare City Council reportedly awarded Augur Investments, a company run by Kenneth Raydon Sharpe, over 540 000 hectares of land for construction of the yet-to-be completed Airport Road, Nhau has learnt.
The alleged shady deal was exposed during a wrangle between George Katsimberis and Sharpe, who are at loggerheads over a joint venture agreement they entered into for the development of upmarket residential stands in Borrowdale.
The wrangle is over the demolition of a show house worth US$300 000 Katsimberis had built at Pokugara Estates in Borrowdale and the cancellation of the survey diagrams.
According to an affidavit filed at the Harare High Court by George Katsimberis and Coolfitch Investments (Pvt) Limited, prior to the year 2013, Sharpe through his company, Augur Investments (Pvt) Limited, without going to tender, and without compliance with the country’s Procurement Act, was awarded a contract to construct Airport Road yet the company has no property nor is it registered in Zimbabwe.
Augur Investments was given twelve pieces of land around Harare measuring a total of 540 927.50 hectares for the construction of a less than 10-kilometre stretch of road.
Katsimberis states that in March this year the City of Harare established a special committee to probe land allocations and leases between December 2004 to December 2009 and a special audit report on the findings questions grey areas surrounding the construction of the Airport Road.
“Council’s tender procedures were not followed, therefore, the committee recommends that Council reconsider its position on the deal.
“Disciplinary action be taken against the Town Clerk, against Engineer Pfukwa, and Engineer Munyonga”
“The Airport Road Project be continued on condition that Augur first brings machinery and equipment as per the Memorandum of Agreement and that all council land transfers that is, title deeds should only be signed for by the Mayor of Harare, Town Clerk and Chamber secretary,” reads the special audit report.
Katsimberis further alleges that despite being allocated these thousands of hectares through deeds of transfer, Augur did not register them in its name but through various companies such as Logara Properties (Pvt) Ltd, Express Properties (Pvt) Ltd, Yellow City (Pvt) Ltd, City Right Properties, Waymark Investments (Pvt) Ltd, Sunshine Development (Pvt) Ltd and Pokugara Properties (Pvt) Ltd.
“The agreement entered into between the City of Harare and Augur Investments and Kenneth Raydon Sharpe is unconscionable. One can see how unconscionably and corruptly, Sharpe and his company Augur Investments was awarded thousands and thousands of acres of land, whose value runs into billions of dollars for the construction of a stretch of road that is less than 10 kilometres,” Katsimberis said.
The revelations come at a time when Government is weeding out land barons in the country, a process that has led to many arrests. Nhau/Indaba
