By A Correspondent| Harare North legislator Norman Markham has poked holes into an agreement entered between City of Harare and a controversial land developer Kenneth Raydon Sharpe for the construction of Airport road, a project the justice fugitive got paid with huge amounts of city prime land.
According to answering affidavits filed by Markham in response to an ongoing High Court challenge against the transfer of land to Sharpe, he said the agreement was entered by a caretaker council which ordinarily does not have authority to execute contracts on behalf of the municipality.
A resolution to enter into an agreement with Sharpe’s Augur Investments which Markham exposed as a shelf company was done by a caretaker commission adding that at no time did duly elected councillors approve terms of the Agreement.
“The agreement between the City of Harare and Augur Investments OU concluded in May 2008, was entered into by a body that had no authority to carry out and execute contracts on behalf of a lawfully executed Council. The fact that Minister Chombo appointed a Commission so soon after the 2008 election when councillors where in existence, is an indictment and an unanswerable hurdle against the agreement. It is illegal and void ab initio,” said Markham.
He also demanded that Augur Investments produce its own Resolution to enter into an Agreement with City of Harare.
He also questioned City of Harare’s decision to proceed with the agreements without going to tender which is against the Procurement Act of Zimbabwe.
Markham dismissed Augur Investments claims that everything was above board insisting that it was incontestable that City of Harare transferred huge amounts of land to Sharpe through his numerous satellite companies without following the Urban Councils Act.
He said Augur Investments was a shelf company with different locations and domicile from different countries in Europe to Mauritius and to Zimbabwe.
“On the other hand, it has operated principality through Aleshina Tatiana, Kenneth Raydon Sharpe and Michael John Van Blerk. These are the principals,” said Markham.