Then Cabinet minister Ignatius Chombo reportedly facilitated a deal whereby the daughter of the late former President Robert Mugabe, Mrs Bona Nyepudzai Mutsahuni, and her husband, Mr Simbarashe Mutsahuni, bought 20 hectares of Hellensvale land zoned for recreation for a paltry US$2 300, prejudicing Harare City Council of millions of dollars and flying in the face of town planning regulations.

The city council reportedly was paid US$2 300, but the market price of 20ha of land in Hellensvale ranges from US$4,5 million to US$7,2 million. Seeff Properties, a real estate agent, last week was selling a 0,5ha stand in Hellensvale for US$180 000, which translates to US$7,2 million for 20ha, while Kennan Properties was selling 0,4ha in the same area for US$90 000, which translates to US$4,5 million for 20ha.

While Helensvale was part of the huge Borrowdale Estate staked out by three officers of Cecil Rhodes’ occupation column, and so was developed privately, town planning law insists that private land owners developing a new suburb must hand over for free around 20 percent for education, recreational, or other public uses.

While development of Helensvale started before the end of the 1960s when Harare City Council absorbed its outer ring of suburbs, the city council would have inherited ownership of the public use slice of Helensvale at that time.

The basic allegations compiled by city investigators are that Chombo, when he was Local Government Minister had the land rezoned to private use, so it could be sold, then arranged it to be sold for a mere US$2 300 for a company called Chordac Investments (Private) Limited, which was fronted at that time by two senior ministry officials but which is a vehicle owned by Mr and Mrs Mutsahuni.

In fact the rezoning was still in progress when the sale went through three days before the redesignation was finalised. The redesignation had to be approved by the Local Government Minister, but that was Chombo.

A land audit report compiled by Harare City Council’s special investigations committee chaired by Councillor Warship Dumba accused Chombo of allocating himself Stand 61 Hellensvale measuring 20ha for US$2 300. But investigations by The Herald found that the property is owned by Chordac Investments with the two directors listed in the Companies’ Registry office being Mrs Bona and Mr Simbarashe Mutsahuni (also known as Chikore).

The Special Investigations Committee’s report noted the anomalies in the way the stand was purchased.

-State Media