By Staff Reporter
Tuesday, 02 November 2010 16:08
HARARE - Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masunda and eight Harare City councillors
were Tuesday cleared of the criminal defamation charges they were facing
after the complainant, controversial Harare businessman, Phillip Chiyangwa
withdrew the charges.
Chiyangwa told Harare magistrate Memory Chigwaza on Tuesday that he was
withdrawing the case due to changed circumstances from the time he reported
the matter to the police and now.
The former Rhodesian policeman-turned-businessman and politician did not
explain the changed circumstances although in the past he has announced in
the media that he struck a deal with the councillors and the mayor.
Masunda and the eight councillors were arrested after a special council
committee investigating the theft of vast tracts of prime land in Harare
implicated Chiyangwa and the Minister of Local Government Ignatius Chombo.
In the report, council resolved that it would take back all the land
acquired by the duo as prescribed in the Urban Councils Act and also
resolved to report the matter to the police.
However, police never took action and instead, it is the councillors who
were arrested. The journalists who exposed the scandal were also
interrogated by police from the notorious Law and Order Section but due to
lack of evidence, they were later roped in as state witnesses.
Councillors who spoke to the Daily News soon after the court case said they
were not aware why Chiyangwa suddenly decided to withdraw the case saying
they wondered why they were dragged to court in the first place.
“Maybe he is now aware that his case is so weak he cannot stand the heat. We
were ready to go all the way with him in court. Our resolution remains the
same – council has to repossess all its land which was taken away improperly
by these well connected people. Also we resolved that those who stole
council land must be arrested.
“As councillors, we are empowered by the Urban Councils Act to set up
special committees to investigate such anomalies like the theft of land from
council. The Act also protects us from being held liable for the outcome of
our investigations.
“Chiyangwa was supposed to have been advised by his lawyers of this but
somehow they did not. It’s now up to him to take it up with his lawyers.
From here, we are going to hold an emergency meeting to come out with
strategies to recover council land improperly acquired by different
individuals in society,” said the councillor who refused to be identified.
The councillors refuted reports that they had reached a mutual agreement
with Chiyangwa resulting in him withdrawing charges. They said they would
proceed to implement the recommendations of the special council report.
Chiyangwa’s woes worsened four months ago when government acquired one of
the farms he had subdivided into residential stands. He had reportedly sold
some of the residential stands to companies and individuals.
This article first appeared in The Daily News
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