Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. GOVERNMENT has ordered the City of Harare to compensate Pinnacle Holdings, a company owned by business and property mogul Phillip Chiyangwa, for the land he lost in the capital.
In a letter addressed to Harare mayor Jacob Mafume, Local Government and Public Works minister Daniel Garwe said council should compensate Pinnacle Property Holdings with council land.
He cited several confrontations between Town House and Pinnacle Property Holdings while responding to Mafume’s letter dated May 23 this year.
Garwe referenced earlier minutes dated December 17, 2024, and May 8 this year.
“As you are aware and highlighted in the above postcode in the previous discussion, the Minister of Local Government and Public Works signed a compensation agreement with Pinnacle Holdings for his land in Harare South and Warren Park,” the minister said.
Mafume said the directive must be followed.
“The relationship of Pinnacle Property Holdings and this council is not new. At some point, we had an agreement in the memorandum of understatement signed with Pinnacle, ourselves, the Local Government minister and Pinnacle over Stone Ridge Properties. The Stone Ridge Properties, as we know, part of them belong to Pinnacle and they have been occupied.
“Pinnacle has been engaged in legal disputes between us, the government and the Supreme Court, which could lead, maybe, to the eviction of people at that place if the interpretation of the law is taken to the letter. But the route that has been taken by Pinnacle is to negotiate with council. The first attempt at our negotiation was abortive.
“Among the properties identified for compensation by claimants, there are properties that are owned by the City of Harare. Below is the list of properties.”
Councillor Denford Ngadziore said the land issue must be dealt according to procedure.
“If we are to do this land transfer, we cannot sit as council and agree to things without following the right path; we love to stick to the Constitution, not just agree,” he said.
“We are not going to hand over land without doing the land evaluation process, because what if we give someone property that is not equivalent to the space of his land?”
Meanwhile, addressing a full council meeting yesterday, Mafume said Harare would co-operate with the Local Government ministry to the benefit of residents in the capital.
“As Harare City Council, we will co-operate with the government for the benefit of the residents and we have had problems with refuse collection for a long time in Harare,” he said.
“As council, we have no capacity for refuse collection, but our government has said it will help us, and we are happy.”
Mafume applauded the government for completing the Trababalas Interchange, formerly known as the Mbudzi Roundabout.
He said the government would construct 10 other interchanges in the capital.
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