These include properties in and around the city acquired under dubious deals. The move is to pave way for a tribunal set up by Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda to finish its investigations into the deals.
Sharpe, who was once probed by the M15 for espionage, is involved in the contentious Borrowdale Road project where he intends to construct a $100 million shopping mall. The project has raised the ire of both residents and environmental experts because the area is a wetland. Augur Investments was also awarded the tender for the construction of the Harare International Airport Road, which has taken years to complete and is said to have cost 10 times its worth.
Ward 41 Councillor, Charity Bango, who moved the motion at a full council meeting recently, said the affected properties were still under investigation and it would be folly for council to allow them to continue before the tribunal presented its full report. But Harare Town Clerk, Tendai Mahachi, played down the resolution, saying no projects had been stopped completely.
Masunda set up the tribunal to investigate the land deals that were entered into when the Council was run by a commission appointed by Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Minister, Ignatius Chombo, after he had fired the entire elected MDC council.
The commission was chaired by Sekeseyai Makwavarara and included Tendai Savanhu, a Zanu (PF) Politburo member, Prisca Mpfumira, Michael Mahachi and Alfred Tome. Ironically, Mahachi is now the Property Manager at Augur Investment, suggesting he could have been an interested party when the commission penned the deals with the company.
The tribunal was supposed to have completed its investigations in three months but was reportedly being hampered by political interference. Chiyangwa at one point challenged the composition of the tribunal, describing it as a “kangaroo tribunal” that council was bound to have influenced.
He had earlier caused the arrest of the councillors who were investigating the case, together with the Mayor and some journalists who had reported on the issue.
The tribunal includes former Attorney General, Andrew Chigovera, retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice Ibrahim, and Sarah Kachingwe, former permanent secretary for information.
Sources in council told The Zimbabwean that Chombo, together with property mogul, Phillip Chiyangwa and Sharpe had benefited from most of the illegal deals with the help of council officials Psychology Chiwanga and Cosmas Zvikaramba. Chombo, in earlier interviews with this newspaper, disassociated himself from the deals, saying his only role was to allocate land when approached. Chiyangwa has also protested his innocence.
An inside source said the Anti-Corruption Commission was investigating the land deals after the police failed to react to a formal report made by council against Chombo and Chiyangwa.
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