…..As Muguti is ‘poisoned’
TINASHE MAKICHI
Harare Provincial Development Coordinator Tafadzwa Muguti is suffering symptoms of suspected poisoning as the fight against land barons takes a nasty turn, Business Times has established.
Muguti, who was appointed last year to assist Minister of State for Harare Provincial Affairs, Oliver Chidawu, has since last year been in running battles with land barons across Harare, Chitungwiza and Ruwa who had been illegally parcelling out State land for personal benefit.
Several well-placed government sources this week told Business Times that Muguti was poisoned. They said the fiery running battles with dreaded land barons could have resulted in the poisoning of Muguti.
“Muguti started complaining of stomach pains followed by some dizziness which then prompted him to take sick leave. He has not been feeling well for more than a month and there are indications that he was poisoned due to his militant approach towards land barons,” a source said.
“He has since notified Chidawu of the suspected poisoning.”
Another source said Muguti’s drive to nail land barons could have unsettled some top government officials who have been implicated in the illegal parcelling of State land.
The Justice Tendai Uchena report on the sale of State land said politicians had created new urban settlements as a way of mobilising political support, there was abuse of political office in the allocation and appropriation of urban State land and the use of names of powerful politicians to exert undue influence on government institutions and processes.
Contacted for comment yesterday Muguti confirmed that he was not feeling well but was on the path to recovery.
“I am not taking calls from journalists at the moment because I am not feeling well. But I am feeling much better now,” he said.
Chidawu did not respond to inquiries from Business Times.
Muguti was at the forefront of the fight against land barons who have fleeced desperate home seekers of their hard earned cash by illegally allocating residential stands on wetlands in Harare Province.
He was also vigorously pushing for demolitions of the illegal structures constructed on wetlands across the capital.
The land barons have been taking advantage of the close relationships with some City Fathers.
Several Harare City Council officials, including the former Mayor Hebert Gomba, human resources and former housing director Matthew Marara, City town planner Samuel Nyabeze and surveyor Munyaradzi Bowa have been arrested on a string of allegations that include criminal abuse of office and corruption through underhand parcelling out of land.
Government has declared war on land barons leading to last month’s arrest of the late Chitungwiza businessman Fredrick Mabamba and another suspected land baron Taurai Chivhanga. Mabamba last week collapsed while in remand prison and was pronounced dead upon arrival at a hospital.
In 2018, President Emmerson Mnangagwa appointed a Commission of inquiry into the sale of state land in and around urban areas since 2005.
The Commission was chaired by Justice Uchena and reported that the State was prejudiced of nearly US$3bn by beneficiaries of urban State land.
The report established that the identification and occupation of farms in and around urban areas was a complex process which resulted in farm invasions by home-seekers, invasions by war veterans for agricultural purposes which subsequently morphed into urban settlements and allocations to co-operatives, trusts and land developers by the ministry responsible for lands and the ministry responsible for local government.
The growing demand for urban residential properties has seen land barons and property developers pouncing on wetlands amid fears Harare is fast running out of wetlands.
Countrywide, there are at least 1.2m hectares of wetlands and Harare, has about 29 wetlands covering a total area of 23 000 hectares. Wetlands are critical as they act as natural purifiers of water.
The latest spate of wetlands invasion has, however, culminated in the direct flow of contaminated water into water bodies such as Lake Chivero, which, in turn, burdens local authorities who have to use a lot of chemicals to purify water.
Zimbabwe signed the Ramsar Treaty on wetlands in 2011, which is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. The treaty is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the Convention was signed in 1971.
Zimbabwe has seven wetlands that are designated as Ramsar sites under the convention. These are Monavale Vlei, Cleveland Dam, Mana Pools, Lake Chivero and Manyame, Chinhoyi Caves, Victoria Falls National Park and Driefontein Grasslands.
