The ruling ZANU PF party has said land barons illegally parcelling out State land should be jailed adding that they are the second-biggest threat to the party’s power retention bid, after the opposition CCC.
Some party heavyweights that were directly involved in the shady deals had been enjoying immunity, but President Emmerson Mnangagwa recently said the malcontents should be dealt with, NewsDay reported citing ZANU PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa. He is quoted as saying:
We don’t support such behaviour and we don’t allow such in the party. In fact, we don’t view these elements as party people. They are people who are using the name of the party for their criminal enterprises, and the President has made it very clear that government will pursue them. They can go to jail.
Government is currently rationalising all the land allocations, bearing in mind that all land belongs to the State. Land barons took advantage and grabbed some of the land which was recovered during the sequel of the land reform programme. Once you begin to behave like that, don’t try to put the badge of Zanu PF on your forehead. You are just a criminal and that’s it.
Our sympathy lies with the victims and others who were swindled, and those whose land has been sold several times to different people. Those are the voters. We care more about the voters than the individuals who may try to profess something under the name of the party. The currency of ZANU PF is the vote and anything which jeopardises our vote and land barons are the biggest threat to ZANU PF after the CCC [Citizens Coalition for Change] because they actually drive people to CCC.
Last Friday, ZANU PF national youth league secretary for education Shepherd Marime and his colleague Denver Mudiwa were arrested by police while resisting demolitions by the Development Control section of the Harare City Council at Greenways in Mabelreign.
It is believed that the duo led a group of people to invade the land and sold stands to unsuspecting home-seekers.
About 30 stands had been sold.
Council spokesperson Innocent Ruwende urged land seekers to approach the local government authority to verify availability and authenticity before acquiring a piece of land.
This year, 347 land barons were arrested with 91 cases before the courts, 57 finalised and six convictions.