Housing project to go ahead

THE development of Muungwe Royal Estate, an uptown housing scheme in Rusape is proceeding well despite attacks by former Norton legislator Mr Temba Mliswa following a fallout with his uncle and landowner Didymus Mutasa.

The project is being spearheaded by Brobondo (Pvt) Ltd under a contractual agreement with Muungwe Investments Pvt Ltd, a company fronted by Mutasa to develop 700 hectares of land in-between Rusape Dam and Utandi area.

The land in question is held under Deed of Transfer number 7972/2008, Deed of Grant number 6600/2008 and Deed of Grant 8874/2008.

The Ministry of Local Government and Public Works has given nod for the conversion of the land into over 2000 residential, commercial and industrial stands.

Makoni Rural District Council has since endorsed the planning and declared that the project is above board.While Mr Mliswa has initiated a High Court case against Muungwe over his purported minority shareholding, he has not involved Brobondo in the legal action, despite his attacks against the company.

Mr Mliswa addressed a media conference in Harare on Tuesday and accused Mutasa's lawyers and the developer of misrepresenting his resignation from Muungwe Investments. The press conference followed a series of tweets of his X handle purporting that the development permit for the Muungwe Royal Estate project was fraudulent.

Brobondo (Pvt) Ltd chief executive officer, Mr Blessing Madanhe dismissed the allegations by Mr Mliswa against Brobondo saying they were meant to help him in his negotiations with Muungwe Investments and his uncle Mutasa.

Mr Madanhe said the allegations against his company were false, malicious, and defamatory, and have demanded their retraction.

"It is not our business to pursue alleged former directors of the company to verify if they had genuinely left or if they had grievances. The law gives all members of a company remedies to address any internal grievances. It is not our business to seek to involve ourselves in the internal politics of the entity we were transacting with," he said.

Mr Madanhe also wondered why Mr Mliswa was dragging Brobondo into his fights with Muungwe Investments.

"We are not to be involved in the internal fights of Muungwe Investments, and all those who have purchased stands from us are innocent purchasers who should not delve into these internal fights. We have not been stopped by anyone from developing and selling stands in Rusape. We are proceeding to do so.

"Mr Mliswa is now dragging our name into the so as to force us to assist him in his negotiations with Muungwe Investments to keep the status of the project clean. In terms of phase one, the land survey has been done and about 600 stands that cover residential, commercial and industrial will be completed by the end of the year. We will resume road construction for phase one in March when the rains have stopped. Preliminary stages for road opening have been done and we are ahead of our schedule. We are a professional entity that respects rule of law, and does not participate in any transaction that is against law," he said.

Mr Mliswa recently approached the High Court (Case No.HCHC42/24), but contrary to his claims on X, the application is not against Brobondo Pvt Ltd, but instead he is seeking protection of his minority shareholding in Muungwe, claiming its major shareholder (Mutasa) is excluding him from the company business.

Mutasa and the company have both opposed Mr Mliswa's application, denying that he is a shareholder or one of its current directors.

Mliswa claims he owns 10 percent shares in Muungwe Investments.

"I wish to advise members of the public that there has neither been an approval by company shareholders, nor a directors' resolution authorising the development and or sale of stands to the public.

"In the absence of such approval, it is my reasonable suspicion and conclusion that the development is a fraud. To this end I have instituted legal proceedings under HCHC42/24 against the said Brobondo and all those working in cahoots with it.

"Further, I shall approach law enforcement agents to investigate possible criminal conduct," Mr Mliswa said.

Mutasa on Tuesday said he owned all the Muungwe shares and accused his nephew of lying about having shares in Muungwe Investments, and challenged him to produce his share certificate of 10 percent shareholding.

"The current directors of Muungwe Investments Private Limited are myself and Martin Naivada Chikomba Mutasa. Marble Dete resigned in 2017 and Temba Peter Mliswa resigned in 2021. I removed him in February 2021. I wrote him a letter to that effect. It was sent by email and also delivered to his Borrowdale address. He did not challenge this removal then. He did not participate in any business of Muungwe Investments or attend any meetings of the company, be it AGM or EGM."

"At some point in 2015 I agreed with my fellow directors of Muungwe Investments that I will give up 30 percent of my share to them in exchange of what they were supposed to contribute towards the development of the land of the company. An agreement to that effect was signed, but did not come into effect as the project had not started. The project only started when Muungwe Investments lawfully engaged Brobodo (Pvt) Ltd in 2022, way after Dete and Mliswa were no longer part of the board of directors. That is why neither of them were involved in the resolution of

Muungwe Investments to engage Brobondo Pvt Ltd to carry out the development and achieve a redistribution of the land through subdivisions," he said.