By A Correspondent| Kenneth Raydone Sharpe had his fraudulent game plan with the aid of former minister of Local Government and Public Works, Ignatius Chombo and his illegal three-men Caretaker Council, a fresh report shows.

Soon after getting awarded the Harare Airport road project without it going to tender, he proceeded to form 7 companies which immediately assumed ownership of properties that had been transferred to it by City of Harare for a job they hadn’t done and ultimately failed to execute.

Despite the fact that there were elected Councillors who awaited to be sworn in, Chombo appointed his own 3 men Caretaker Council, chaired by Michael Mahachi which lasted for 63 days.

In those 63 days, the 3 musketeers awarded an US$80 million project to Ken Sharpe without going to tender, employed 742 people without advertising for such posts, approved the sale of 2 properties in prime areas of Harare to Chombo without going to tender among other blunders which are still being felt by City of Harare and Zimbabwe at large to this day.

The frantic pace with which this Caretaker Council carried out its business suggested that there was a deliberate programme of action which was designed to achieve certain desired results before the swearing in of the newly elected Councillors.

A report done by City Council’s Special Lands Investigations Committee concluded that Mr Mahachi, who signed the MoA with Augur in his capacity as the chairman of the caretaker council, unilaterally approved the appointment of himself as the project manager, a move which guaranteed him of at least US$1 972 002.52.

“At the time of the signing of the MoU, the chairman of the caretaker council (Mr Mahachi) had not obtained the authority to do so from council as the matter had not been discussed in any meeting of the caretaker council,” reads part of the report.

“In the letter to the city council written by Mr (Michael) Van Blerk of Augur (Annexure S), Augur sets the cost of the utilisation of the project manager, Mr Mahachi, at 2,5 percent of the total cost of the project. This translates to US$1 972 002.52.”The Lands Committee then recommended that:

“Michael Mahachi’s conduct pertaining to the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with Augur and his being appointed as Augur project manager for the same Airport project should be referred to the police for investigations with the view to having him charged in terms of section 172 of the Criminal law (Reform and Codification) Act.”

The report also notes that the local authority paid Augur with 93 hectares of prime land which translates to 41 000 high-density stands measuring 200 square metres each, which, in turn, registered seven Zimbabwean companies to manage the land.

The City Council’s entanglement with Augur Investments has had far reaching financial implications in terms of the obligations placed on the Council and the size of the land that was transferred to Augur Investments.

Since 2007, the City of Harare signed 5 agreements with Augur Investments relating to infrastructural developments in various parts of the City of Harare.