Housing project divides Zanu-PF

ZANU-PF Mashonaland West provincial political commissar, Simon Solomon, has come out guns blazing, accusing party bigwig, Jimayi Muduvuri, of coercing beneficiaries of Pixie Combie Housing Scheme in Kadoma to falsely testify before the Lands Commission that there was rampant corruption in the allocation of residential stands and misappropriation of funds as the battle for control of the scheme intensifies.

Appearing before the Tendai Uchena-led Lands Commission, Solomon last week claimed that Muduvuri, through his McSherp Holdings, was behind all the chaos at the project.

Muduvuri, who is a member of the Zanu-PF national consultative assembly, did not attend the hearings and could not be reached for comment.

"All the allegations that Solomon had double allocated stands to beneficiaries, misappropriated their contributions and repossessed and later sold the stands are baseless and are the machinations of Muduvuri. He has some interests in the project," Solomon charged.

"My executive has been running the affairs of the project since 2008 and Muduvuri just resurfaced and sent a memo to council to the effect that the Solomon-led executive had been booted out and there was now his executive. When we were carrying out roads clearance, he instructed ZETDC (Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company) to erect electricity lines along the roads thereby derailing development.

"There are political wars in Zanu-PF at play here. All these people who have submitted affidavits before you are not genuine beneficiaries at Pixie Combie, but have been bussed by Muduvuri to come and cause confusion and chaos and the offer Letters they are holding were produced by Muduvuri. No one has an offer letter given by the council in 2006!"

He said Muduvuri's appetite for chaos had now shifted to another project in Kadoma, where he grabbed 70 hectares of land set aside for women and youths by the government.

"After an overwhelming response at the Pixie Combie, I approached the Minister of Local Government for extra land in 2014 and 70ha was availed, but Muduvuri grabbed the land and incorporated it into his project and during one of the party's leadership (indabas), he said that nothing in town is for free and Pixie Combie was not an exception," Solomon said

Zanu-PF youths, under the banner of Youths Lodgers Association, also approached the Lands Commission with a complaint against Muduvuri, whom they accused of grabbing 40ha allocated to them.

The commission's probe has also exposed the rot at Kadoma Town House, with council failing to account for records of beneficiaries of Pixie Combie and tampering with minutes of a meeting with Pixie Combie executives.

Kadoma acting housing director Aaron Masembura also appeared before the commission and exposed more rot.

"I can confirm that there was and is no master record of Pixie Combie project at council and our filing system in the housing department are in shambles. I could not find anything other than these boxes of offer letters and a few files which are not in order, hence this has brought double allocation and allocation of residential purposes on commercial and institutional stands,"Masembura said.

Two different minutes were produced for a meeting held on July 19, 2012 between council and Pixie Combie executive.

Pixie Combie executive adviser Alfred Motsi, who signed the minutes on behalf of the executive, denied the contents of the minutes produced by the council.

"Your worship, I'm the only one who signed for the minutes of the meeting held on July 19, 2012. The minutes of the meeting produced by the council were doctored by someone. They have been tampered with. Someone has an ulterior motive over the Pixie Combie project," Motsi said.

Pixie Combie Housing Scheme is the brainchild of former Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo who used it as a campaign tool after Zanu-PF faced stiff challenge from MDC in the 2002 general elections and the land was to be parcelled out to supporters drawn from the constituency's 13 wards.