Former Gwanda Councillor in illegal land sales

Former ZANU PF councillor for Ward 8 in Gwanda North constituency Rachel "Dura" Ncube has been swindling South African based people from her ward of huge amounts of money promising to get them stands at Makwe growth point 40kn out of Gwanda Town.

According to reports from people who have fallen victim to the former councillor's antics she has been making them pay amounts ranging from R4000 to R6000 for pieces of rural land that should not be sold at all. Sources who spoke to Bulawayo24 News indicate that the former councillor is mostly selling "her" land to people resident in South Africa and always fails to deliver the land bought citing numerous invalid excuses for failure to deliver.

The victims claim that they have never been given any acknowledgement of receipt of payment from the former councillor but always given excuses that council is still sorting out their land applications. After continuous pestering from the would be land owners, the former councillor is said to be resorting into deals with one Motsamai Sebata who would reproduce an old house plan with a council approval stamp and alter names on the plan to make the clients believe that council has approved their applications.

The applicants say that what surprises them is that they will not have given her a specific house plan for the house they want to build but she would come with a plan completed and "approved" by council and drawn by Sebata. According to the victims who want to remain anonymous until they have completed the legal processes to recover their money, the former councillor always refused to receive the money at the council offices at times even making offers to travel to Johannesburg to receive the payments provided the applicants paid for her transport.

One such applicant who claimed to have paid the former councillor an amount of R5200 at a place in Gwanda Town, was shown a piece of land in the area after a long period of up and down travel from Johannesburg. When she was "given" the land, she was stopped construction by the councillor after she had constructed a blair toilet on the stand. Suspecting fraud, the applicant decided to go to the Gwanda Rural District Council to check if indeed the stand was in her name as she had no paper work with her confirming ownership of the stand. She got the shock of her life when she was told that she does not exist in the council records and the stand was not allocated to her. When she went back to the councillor she was told that the stand was not in her name but her son's name as "women are not allowed to own land according to the new constitution." She went back to council and the son's name was also not available.

Obviously sensing the fraud the applicant enquired from other such applicants if they had received their land from the councillor, it then dawned to the applicants that they had been swindled of their money. The applicants have since started moves to recover their money from the feared liberation war veteran former councillor. The applicants all still in South Africa hoping to come to Zimbabwe in December, claim that the councillor is not co-operating with them instead is threatening of unspecified action if they dare try to engage her on the issue since she is a "very powerful political figure in the area."

Contacted for a comment, Ncube confirmed receiving some money from prospective land owners in the Makwe area. Asked in what capacity she was collecting money for stands and/or allocating stands, Ncube indicated that she has been doing the work since she was elected councillor in 2005 albeit she went on to lose the 2008 and 2013 elections. According to her the previous MDC (Ncube) councillor and the current (MDC T) councillor are not loved in the ward and so she continues doing the duties of the councillor as mandated by her party ZANU PF. Ncube could not provide an answer when asked if it is the duty of the councillor to collect money for stands and not submit the same to council.

Asked on the money received from the applicants who brought the issue to Bulawayo24 News, Ncube confirmed receiving their money with one of them dating back to the time when she was still the councillor in 2006. Asked on the long time frame, Ncube claimed that she was still processing the stand application.

On the issue of the lady who she allocated a stand and was stopped working on it, Ncube contradicted herself first saying she still had her money and "application form" before claiming that the application form actually disappeared in the council system. No answer could also be given when asked how then she allocated a stand before the application process was completed and still had the money in her hand for over a year.

When Bulawayo24 News probed the terrified former councillor further, she invited the reporter to a private discussion trying to convince the reporter not to pursue the issue further nor publish the story.