An employee of the Chitungwiza City Council has been placed on unpaid leave under investigation for allegedly encouraging the sale of phony offer letters to unwary homebuyers.
Since it is now on embargo, the local council has not produced a single offer letter since November 2019.
Acting Mayor of Chitungwiza Kiven Mutimbanyoka stated, “It has come to our attention that multiple Offer Letters are being generated allegedly in the name of Mr. Alex Mukwewa.
He continued, “The majority of these Offer Letters are fraudulently given without The Council’s approval and are backdated.
He cautioned people against accepting Offer Letters sent out in the name of Alex Mukwewa.
“As of October 1st, 2020, Mr. Mukwewa was placed on compelled leave as a result of allegations of criminal abuse of authority in his capacity as a public official. Land-related concerns gave rise to the charges, which are now pending before the courts. Please note that Chitungwiza Municipality will not be held liable for any Offer Letters or allocations that were obtained fraudulently in the past or present, according to Mutimbanyoka.
These offer letters are invalid. The majority of these Offer Letters are duplicate allocations that were written on top of sewer lines, wetlands, and electrical power lines and road servitudes.”
The Council said it is in the process of verifying all land allocations that were issued from 2019 to date and they are subject to approval in terms of the law.
Furthermore, the municipality has also withdrawn all date-stamps that were being previously used.
Council procedures in terms of stands allocation which we ordinarily expect, all prospective stands beneficiaries should follow.
In case of Residential Stands the following procedures should be followed: –
1.) Join The Council waiting list
2.) Interviews and mutual agreement, the beneficiary to pay the required deposit for the for the
stand within 3 months
3.) Director Housing makes recommendation to Housing Committee.
4.) Full Council Resolution
5.) Issuance of Offer Letters after making the required deposit
6.) Signing of lease agreement forms after paying stand servicing fees and an agreed part of
the lease fees.
In terms of Commercial, Industrial and institutional stands, the following procedures shall be
followed: –
1. Application including project proposal and proof of Capital
All stands allocations that were done without following the procedures as highlighted above shall
be subject to Council ratification as well as compliance to section152(2) of the Urban Council’s
Act (Chapter29:15). Furthermore, where allocations were done on site plans that are yet to be
approved in terms of section 43 of the Regional, Town and Country Planning Act (Chapter 29:12),
such layouts shall be submitted to the Director Physical Planning for approval. Thereafter, The
Council shall then proceed to process the leases.
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