News / National
Sex-for-houses scam rocks council
28 Mar 2014 at 07:07hrs | Views
A HOUSING scandal in which some ZANU-PF politicians are allegedly evicting residents from council-owned houses and replacing them with new tenants at exorbitant rentals while accepting sexual favours in return for accommodation, has been unearthed in Harare.
Allegations are that the politicians are working in cahoots with officials in the City of Harare's housing department to evict residents who rent properties from council and replace them with their own new tenants.
The scandalous practice is allegedly going on in the city's old suburbs of Mbare, Highfield, Mufakose and Mabvuku, among others, where council leases out houses to residents. The practice is worse in Mbare where three senior ZANU-PF officials - Mbare Joshua Nkomo district chairman Modern Newel Chirwa, Mbare 2 District chairman Thomas Demere and Mbare Ward 3 councillor Innocent Maseko - have been fingered for evicting tenants from council- leased houses with help from senior officials in the city's housing department.
Sources who declined to be named fearing for their lives also alleged that the three are also sexually victimising women under the pretext that they would protect them from evictions. They claimed that City of Harare's assistant housing director, Bridget Mandizha, is the one who strikes the victims off official registers and replace them with the politicians' tenants. Allegations are that the trio pretends to be real owners of the houses and charge and collect from their tenants between US$200 and US$300 per house against council's rentals pegged at only US$50 or US$60 per house.
It is further alleged that they also establish illegal structures within the yard for more tenants and so end up pocketing up to US$500 per month from one house.
Other houses are also converted into illegal beer outlets known as shebeens, raking in more money.
Sources said the trio was specifically targeting houses occupied by children whose parents would have died where they would evict the vulnerable and voiceless minors. Eight children from two families (names supplied) have since been pushed into destitution after being evicted from their houses in Jo'burg Lines following their parents' deaths. Three children, two boys and a girl from one family, are now living on the streets since their eviction last year. The girl (18) has since started a family with a fellow street dweller at Mbare Musika where they live with their child.
Five children from the Mukwaira family were allegedly evicted soon after the death of their parents while widows are not being spared either. A woman whose husband had just died said she has been targeted by Chirwa for eviction since she turned down his love proposal.
"Chirwa is targeting me because I refused to accept his love proposal after the death of my husband. He even sent his people one day and gained entrance into my house by breaking the door. They handcuffed me and threw my belongings out," she said, adding that she could not do anything about it as Chirwa was a ‘powerful man with strong political connections.'
Demere is also accused of evicting a man whose wife he allegedly has a love affair with from a Mbare flat. The man has since moved out and accuses Demere of wrecking his marriage.
"All I want is to move back into my flat. He can have the wife," he said holding his tears back. Maseko is accused of pushing a man out of his matrimonial home and is alleged to have since sired a child with the wife as a means to protect her from eviction. Maseko, however, denied all the allegations when contacted for comment.
"I do not understand why people think I am behind all this. As a councillor, my duty is to listen to people's complaints and forward them to council. I do not have the capacity to evict anyone," he said.
For the two weeks that this writer was investigating this scandal, Chirwa was evasive as he kept changing his mobile numbers and would not respond to text messages forwarded to him. Demere could also not be reached at the time of going to press.
Mandizha would not deny that evictions were taking place but said council only evicts those who would have defaulted on their payments. "The issue is these houses are rented from council so those people who would have stayed in those houses end up thinking they own the properties and therefore stop paying rentals when they signed lease agreements that show they are supposed to be paying rentals," Mandizha said.
She also said the houses were on rental basis and therefore could not be inherited by family members after the death of the registered tenants. "These houses cannot be inherited. They belong to Harare and tenants occupy them on the basis of rental therefore I don't understand it when someone wants the house to be passed on to generations."
Mandizha dismissed allegations that she was being bribed saying she was a principled professional who conducts her work ethically.
Allegations are that the politicians are working in cahoots with officials in the City of Harare's housing department to evict residents who rent properties from council and replace them with their own new tenants.
The scandalous practice is allegedly going on in the city's old suburbs of Mbare, Highfield, Mufakose and Mabvuku, among others, where council leases out houses to residents. The practice is worse in Mbare where three senior ZANU-PF officials - Mbare Joshua Nkomo district chairman Modern Newel Chirwa, Mbare 2 District chairman Thomas Demere and Mbare Ward 3 councillor Innocent Maseko - have been fingered for evicting tenants from council- leased houses with help from senior officials in the city's housing department.
Sources who declined to be named fearing for their lives also alleged that the three are also sexually victimising women under the pretext that they would protect them from evictions. They claimed that City of Harare's assistant housing director, Bridget Mandizha, is the one who strikes the victims off official registers and replace them with the politicians' tenants. Allegations are that the trio pretends to be real owners of the houses and charge and collect from their tenants between US$200 and US$300 per house against council's rentals pegged at only US$50 or US$60 per house.
It is further alleged that they also establish illegal structures within the yard for more tenants and so end up pocketing up to US$500 per month from one house.
Other houses are also converted into illegal beer outlets known as shebeens, raking in more money.
Sources said the trio was specifically targeting houses occupied by children whose parents would have died where they would evict the vulnerable and voiceless minors. Eight children from two families (names supplied) have since been pushed into destitution after being evicted from their houses in Jo'burg Lines following their parents' deaths. Three children, two boys and a girl from one family, are now living on the streets since their eviction last year. The girl (18) has since started a family with a fellow street dweller at Mbare Musika where they live with their child.
Five children from the Mukwaira family were allegedly evicted soon after the death of their parents while widows are not being spared either. A woman whose husband had just died said she has been targeted by Chirwa for eviction since she turned down his love proposal.
Demere is also accused of evicting a man whose wife he allegedly has a love affair with from a Mbare flat. The man has since moved out and accuses Demere of wrecking his marriage.
"All I want is to move back into my flat. He can have the wife," he said holding his tears back. Maseko is accused of pushing a man out of his matrimonial home and is alleged to have since sired a child with the wife as a means to protect her from eviction. Maseko, however, denied all the allegations when contacted for comment.
"I do not understand why people think I am behind all this. As a councillor, my duty is to listen to people's complaints and forward them to council. I do not have the capacity to evict anyone," he said.
For the two weeks that this writer was investigating this scandal, Chirwa was evasive as he kept changing his mobile numbers and would not respond to text messages forwarded to him. Demere could also not be reached at the time of going to press.
Mandizha would not deny that evictions were taking place but said council only evicts those who would have defaulted on their payments. "The issue is these houses are rented from council so those people who would have stayed in those houses end up thinking they own the properties and therefore stop paying rentals when they signed lease agreements that show they are supposed to be paying rentals," Mandizha said.
She also said the houses were on rental basis and therefore could not be inherited by family members after the death of the registered tenants. "These houses cannot be inherited. They belong to Harare and tenants occupy them on the basis of rental therefore I don't understand it when someone wants the house to be passed on to generations."
Mandizha dismissed allegations that she was being bribed saying she was a principled professional who conducts her work ethically.
Source - fingaz
