By A Correspondent| Local government minister July Moyo has dismissed as ‘frivolous and malicious’, a High Court challenge filed by former City of Harare councillor Warship Dumba seeking to reverse a joint venture agreement which saw City of Harare ‘fraudulently’ transferring vast tracts of land to Augur Invesments OU, a company owned by controversial land baron Kenneth Raydon Sharpe.
Dumba together with another Harare resident Knowledge Tinashe Kwambana and the Zimbabwe Homeless People Federation approached the High Court to have the joint venture agreement that culminated in the formation of Sunshine Development Private Limited company declared null and void.
To Dumba and his co-litigants, Sunshine Development was just a vehicle to corruptly extract land from the City of Harare as Sharpe did not deliver on any of the set projects yet land had already been transferred.
They also argue that the land provided by City of Harare as its contribution to the joint venture agreement is worth over US$45 Million yet Augur with its US$20 to US$30 Million contribution was allocated 70 percent shares in Sunshine Development Private Limited.
City of Harare was allocated 30 percent shares despite putting in 99 hectares of land.
Dumba and his co-litigants also claim that another 145 hectares of land was secretly transferred to Sunshine Development taking the cumulative total to 244 hectares.
Sharpe on the other hand did not put anything into the agreement, this made the litigants conclude that Sunshine Development was just a conduit for stealing land from City of Harare with the protection of the central government.
In his response, Moyo did not offer any explanation, choosing to question the locus standi of the applicants whom he said have no entitlement to the order they seek.
“The applicants has not shown beyond reasonable doubt that they are entitled to the order they seek. Their application is frivolous and malicious,” said Moyo.
He further refuted claims of fraud in the manner in which the agreement to form Sunshine Development Private Limited was reached, saying the commission which was running the affairs of the city at that material time, executed its duties efficiently.
“There was no fraud involved during the execution of the agreements. The applicants are put to strictest proof. The commission executed its duties efficiently,” said Moyo.
In what represents one of the biggest land frauds in the history of Harare, former Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo appointed a commission to run the affairs of Harare led by Michael Mahachi.
The Mahachi Commission then entered into a Memorandum of Understanding and a Shareholder Agreement with Augur Investments on the 4th of September 2007 barely a day after it was registered in Estonia.
Dumba and his co-litigants argued that both Chombo and Mahachi who drove these agreements were motivated by self-interests.
In their High Court appeal, Dumba and his co-litigants sued Augur Investments, July Moyo, Kenneth Raydon sharpe, Tatiana Aleshina, Michael Van Blerk, Sunshine Development Private Limited, Registrar of Deeds and Registrar of Companies.
Aleshina and Van Blerk are Sharpe’s aides.