@daddyhope @JMafume I have personal knowledge of some facts which, if you know about, might persuade you to reconsider this post. Being the fair and balanced brother that you are
@daddyhope , I have no doubt that you will consider these facts with an open mind. Most of the area now referred to as Stoneridge in Harare South was privately owned urban land. Part of it was owned by JetMaster and part of it was owned by a renowned tobacco Company. After Mr Chiyangwa sold his interests in G & D Shoes, he acquired these lands and many other assets. That was about the time Mr Chiyangwa and I met after years of fighting each other without really knowing each other. He gave me a call when I was in South Africa. He requested a meeting. He needed my TNFS as his financial advisors. From the Airport, I went straight into a meeting with him which lasted most of the night. We loughed about the past battles and agreed to bury the hatchet. He showed me his entire portfolio of assets. I set my team to do a due diligence on the portfolio of assets. I had a very competent team that included Bernard Wekare, now a very successful entrepreneur in his own right. One of the hardest working people I know. William Marere, a distinguished Finance Executive of a listed Company and one of the smartest people I have ever met, and George Nyashanu, now an Executive at a listed Company and one of the best CRM Executives that I know. We verified that Mr Chiyangwa had accumulated a lot of money most of which was deposited with the largest Commercial Bank in the Land. We advised him on the deployment of his money to avoid its erosion by Hyperinflation. The acquisition of urban land in the outskirts of Harare is one of the things Philip Chiyangwa did with his money. The land was cheap at the time as many did not see value in it. To his credit, he saw the value. Mr Chiyangwa subdivided the land and sold some of it. My company bought a total of more than 500 stands including the 400 that we took over from Cottco as Cottco wanted out of the scheme after there was a change of its control. There is actually a High Court Case over this which I settled by buying the stands from Cottco. I parceled the stands out to my employees. CBZ, Econet Pension Fund, etc also bought some stands. Unfortunately, some of the stands were invaded and forcibly taken over by ordinary people, some of whom may have been politically motivated. Mr Chiyangwa went to Court, right up to the Constitutional Court. The Courts ruled in his favour. This would have meant the eviction of thousands of people now staying in Harare South. Mr Chiyangwa agreed to accept compensation and to also compensate those companies that had bought stands from him, but had lost the stands due to the invasion by the Harare South residents. By agreeing to compensate Mr Chiyangwa, I think Government has acted very responsibly to protect ordinary citizens. I accept that some land barons may also have led the invasion of Mr Chiyangwa’s property. They even illegally sold some stands to unsuspecting people. I think we need to uphold private property rights even though we may dislike the holders of the private property rights. Government must compensate for any private property expropriated from private Citizens, including Mr Chiyangwa. What his Lordship the mayor must deal with is the issue of land barons who take advantage of desperate citizens and sell them land that they have no title to. The route of Compensation followed by the Government, City of Harare and Mr Chiyangwa is more humane than the demolition of structures put up by desperate citizens who fall victim to schemes by land barons.