The ManicaPost
Samuel Kadungure and Lovemore Kadzura
RUSAPE Town Council is the eye of a land scandal storm after some clerks in the Housing Department allegedly tampered with physical and electronic records before fraudulently selling stands to unsuspecting land seekers.
The Manica Post can reveal that the local authority launched an internal land audit which so far has revealed that more than 20 undeveloped stands, mostly in the low density suburbs, were sold using fake documents from January to date.
The investigations which were conducted by the council internal auditor, Mr Agrippa Zengeni, showed that the clerks faked the signature of the late and former town secretary, Mr Joshua Maligwa, to cover their tracts.
The four clerical staffers implicated in the unfolding scam include Tendai Museka, Maina Muzariri, Collen Nhanga and Jacob Chiraswa.
Nhanga, who was in the finance department, recently joined Mutare Rural District Council.
Museka allegedly tendered his resignation at the commencement of the internal investigations early this month.
He is suspected to have skipped the country to South Africa after council refused to accept the resignation.
Museka and Muzariri were also implicated in a previous investigation that claimed the scalp of former council boss, Mr Solomon Gabaza, but had been pardoned for their misdemeanors.
It is alleged that the four had formed a lethal combination in which they would identify undeveloped stands and doctor the housing records to illegally process the change of ownership.
On numerous occasions, they used the names of their wives, relatives, parents and friends as new owners of the stands.
Since council sold most of the stands between 2012 and 2017, the employees faked the signature of the late Mr Maligwa to sell the stands to unsuspecting clients, before sharing the proceeds.
The matter came to light after one of their clients felt shortchanged and reported the matter to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC).
The anti-corruption body then raised a red flag, thereby prompting the local authority to institute a land audit which has since revealed that between January and June this year, the quartet allegedly fraudulently sold 20 stands in Magamba, Silverbow and Crocodile suburbs.
The stands were sold for prices ranging between US$7 000 and US$10 000, depending on the size.
RTC chairman, Councillor Blessmore Pambureni confirmed the scandal.
He said the findings were tabled before the special audit committee on Wednesday.
The committee recommended that council, through the Acting Town Secretary, Mr Fanisen Shuwa, report the four employees to the police.
The committee also wants the internal investigation to stretch back to 2018.
“It is true that council instituted an internal audit into the operations of the Housing and Community Service Department after a whistleblower had approached us.
“The terms of reference were to probe the sales of stands, change of ownership and acquisition of title deeds in 2022. We did this exercise after receiving complaints over the conduct of certain employees in the department.
“We swiftly redeployed the entire clerical staff to pave way for investigations. I can also confirm that one of the clerks (Museka) tendered his resignation letter, but council turned it down. He has not been reporting for duty since then.
“The audit has revealed serious cases of fraud involving three clerks from the Housing Department and another one from the Finance Department,” said Councillor Pambureni.
He said their investigations revealed that the four would identify dormant stands and tamper with the records.
“They would then change names of stand owners in physical records and computer systems since they had access to passwords. They would place the names of their parents, wives, relatives and friends as the new owners of the stands and look for unsuspecting home seekers.
“They would then change the names from their accomplices to the new owners.
‘‘The new owners would be made to pay all the stand arrears to facilitate the change of ownership. They also faked the signature of the former town secretary, Mr Maligwa,” said Councillor Pambureni.
He said the new owners only realised that they had been duped after being confronted by the real owners of the stands.
