'No rule of law in Zimbabwe,' says Mugabe ally

Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa says land barons are giving him "sleepless nights" as they are raking in millions of dollars in untaxed money so that he now agrees with the notion that "there is no rule of law in Zimbabwe".

Chinamasa's remarks follow revelations made in Cabinet last Tuesday that a land baron had amassed close to $57 million in Caledonia through selling residential stands illegally.

It was not immediately clear if government would move to arrest the perpetrator, whose name has not yet been revealed.

The astronomical figure, however, infuriated the Treasury chief who is battling to sustain the country's astronomical wage bill.

"We don't want land barons at all by whatever name they masquerade!" Chinamasa thundered during the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between Apex Council, Udcorp and Local Government on Tuesday last week.

"Sometimes they masquerade by using big politicians' names, some call themselves ‘Amai Sally Mugabe scheme' when everything underneath is rotten but they use the name to keep away anyone who wants to investigate who will say ahh no zvina Amai Mugabe mukati zvina, (Saviour) Kasukuwere mukati (It has the backing of Mai Mugabe and minister Kasukuwere)," he said.

"No we don't want that. I said it in Cabinet that when we are accused of having no rule of law, some of it we should introspect. Some of it is correct. When someone just goes to a land that does not belong to him and starts pegging and then selling, it doesn't matter whether its communal land or municipal land or land acquired under the land reform programme, there is an authority responsible for that land. You cannot do any development let alone sell and make a profit."

He added: "Some of the figures mentioned in the Cabinet..., it's a lot of money. Someone made $57 million in Caledonia. When ... Kasukuwere mentioned this it made me think ‘that money is not coming through Treasury.'

"So, there is a lot of money out there which is not being taxed ini ndoshaya hope dzekuti toita sei ivo vamwe varikuba havo, kutotsvaga vanhu vekubira, vanobika (I can't continue to have sleepless nights when land barons are stealing millions while treasury is broke). No."

Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere admitted that land barons were not being prosecuted.

"…Chinamasa…you know this issue of using political names, one cooperative called itself Joice Teurairopa Mujuru. When things went south they did not know what to do. So we told them ‘hey you don't have papers right, so get away from here'. They went quietly," Kasukuwere said.