Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe has denied any involvement in a land dispute between Harare City Council and Logara Properties.
The dispute led to the arrest of Harare’s deputy mayor, Rosemary Muronda, and former Harare South MP Shadreck Mashayamombe. Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume was also questioned by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC).
The three were arrested after Marvis Java reported to ZACC that she had been sold a non-existent commercial stand in Newlands.
Mafume was released the same day, while Muronda and Mashayamombe were granted bail of US$500 each on Friday after Java withdrew her charges against them.
The land involved is about 17 to 20 hectares and is owned by Logara Properties.
In an interview, Garwe alleged that Mafume and Muronda are key figures in the dispute because they refused to transfer the Newlands land to Logara Properties.
He said the company plans to build modern townhouses and a new road to improve traffic flow between Gunhill and Borrowdale Road. Said Mafume:
“The issue commenced long before I was even the Local Government Minister, that was in 2019.
“When I was appointed, I called the mayor and his team so that we could resolve this issue, but later o,n the Harare City Council officials turned the goal posts and started saying they had been sued by a consortium of companies that had bought the land in question.
“Our initial investigations revealed that there were three companies that were said to have bought the land, namely Clearn Burn Energy owned by Mashayamombe, Diexodos Marketing linked to Muronda and Aspire Elite Incorporated linked to (Clr) Mafume.
“What this means is that these officials had used their companies to sue Harare City Council, and then no one represented the Council, leading to a default judgment.”
Garwe also said Mafume and his team at the Council preferred to lease the land in question to car sales owners, rather than transferring it to Logara Properties for townhouse development. He said:
“We told (Clr) Mafume and his team that Logara Properties had shown interest in developing the area, and we suggested that the city could be compensated by being allocated another piece of land along Borrowdale Road so that they can lease to car sales companies, but they refused.”
The matter came to light after a letter, allegedly written by Garwe and dated 23 July 2025, surfaced.
In the letter, Garwe instructed the Mayor of Harare to transfer Stand 19611 to Logara Properties. The letter reads:
“Following the meeting held by Council, Logara Properties and my Ministry on 16 July 2025, in which it was agreed to swap stands owned by Council and that owned by Logara Properties, you are hereby required to make the transfer.
“A separate letter has been written in which Logara Properties has been informed to transfer 2.5041 hectares of its land to the City of Harare, in this direct swap of stands.
“This is necessary as it will lead to Logara Properties immediately investing USD $70 million in infrastructure in the greenfield, thereby unlocking value in the area, which will benefit the City.
I look forward to the timely implementation of the decision to swap the adjacent stands in the Public Interest.”
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