By Own Correspondent| The recently sworn in Minister of State of the Harare Metropolitan Province, Oliver Chidawu has described land barons as criminals who should be dealt with.

Chidawu, who is a former Harare mayor said this in an interview with the State Media.

He said:

“Land barons is a colloquial term for people who have stolen money from needy people who wanted housing and shelter over their heads.

These are just criminals, the point is what are we going to do with the criminals who have been roaming around cheating people? It is the duty of the local authority to provide housing to the people, it is a national duty for Government.

In my time as Harare Mayor, we used to do that in places like Warren Park and Kuwadzana. We serviced the land and properly gave people land. Unfortunately, as things deteriorated, we have ended up with greedy people.

A land baron would be a person who owns land and service it for sale, but these you are calling land barons are criminals.”