Chihuri distances self from Harare mansion

Police chief Augustine Chihuri has insisted that an unbelievably palatial Harare mansion with a swimming pool, water features and lush flower borders is NOT his, a newspaper is reporting.

Social media in Zimbabwe has been awash with claims that the white house, said to be in Harare's Gletwin suburb, belongs to unpopular Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri.

Photos of the mansion have been widely shared, including by media watchdog @ZimMediaReview and on Facebook by H-Metro, which is part of the state Zimpapers stable. There was even bitter speculation that the money from road fines might have helped pay for the mansion, which has an opulence that contrasts with the less-than-ideal housing that many in the capital live in, including rank-and-file members of the security forces. (If you want evidence of that, just look at the bleak flats that members of the police support unit live in on the main road outside Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison.)

Chihuri admitted only last week that some police officers were corrupt. He blamed their parents, the state-run Chronicle reported.

The police chief told H-Metro on Friday: "Let the nation be warned that police will not fold hands in dealing with those misusing social media to settle their issues."

He directed journalists to the Facebook page of a Harare landscaping firm Graham Williams and Associates Professional Landscaping. The firm pinned a comment to its page saying that it refutes the claim that pictures "stolen" from its Facebook page are of a house belonging to Chihuri.

So if it's not Chihuri's, who does the house belong to?