The ManicaPost
Abel Zhakata Senior Reporter
FLEECED Gimboki South Housing Scheme beneficiaries who lost millions of dollars to fraudulent executive members of the Mutare Housing
Consortium have revealed the names of the people who duped them.
The irate home-seekers said they were ready to avail police with intrinsic details of how they paid the executive members thousands of dollars to
be allocated residential stands in the restive scheme that is now riddled with over 1 200 cases of double allocations.
Faced with a possibility of forking out $24 million more to have their stands serviced by UDCORP, the home-seekers said something should be
done for them, to recover the lost money.
At a no-holds-barred meeting held at the scheme last Saturday, the beneficiaries said it was high time they expose the names of the people who
defrauded them and pave way for criminal prosecution.
The implicated executive members, whose identity cannot be published at this juncture, stand accused of receiving at least $2 000 from each
home-seeker.
After receiving the said kickbacks, they allegedly went on to parcel out land that was being owned by paid up individuals resulting in double
allocations.
Taking the alleged $2 000 kickback as the average amount the home-seekers were asked to pay, it means the implicated individuals made a
fortune of more than $2, 4 million in double allocating the 1 200 stands that have brewed a storm at the scheme.
UDCORP chief executive officer, Mr Bright Mudzvova, said his organisation had invited the police’s Serious Fraud arm to investigate the
double allocations.
He urged those who were duped to bring evidence and help them nail the culprits.
“The issue of double allocations means that someone will lose out. In doing our verification exercise we will your receipts to check who was
allocated the stand first. What it means is that those who were given stands that belonged to other people later after paying some money like what
you are alleging will lose out. We want bona-fide beneficiaries who started this scheme to have their land back.
“Bring all the evidence you have against the people whom you allege to have defrauded you and we will hand it over to the police. We are
working with the police to clear all these double allocation cases,†he said.
Dangamvura-Chikanga legislator, Cde Isau Mupfumi, said Government appointed UDCORP to take over the scheme to stop massive corruption
by the Mutare Housing Consortium.
“You cannot just steal from people and walk scot free. Those who stole must be arrested. We say not to corruption. UDCORP you must help
these people because they fell prey to thieves. Even up to this day, their respective co-operatives were still stealing money from them under the
guise of giving them clearance letters to join your scheme.
“These people have been squeezed to the last cent since 2007 when the scheme began and they are now tired of losing their hard earned money,â€
he said.
One of the beneficiaries chronicled how she joined the scheme in 2007, paid her dues, but later found someone building a structure at her stand.
“I visited the consortium offices to tell my story and was told a lot of stories. They offered to give me another stand, but I refused and told them
that I wanted the one I paid for in the first place. I went back and confronted the new owner and he told me that he paid some money to one of the
executive members to get the stand.
“At that point I went to the Criminal Investigation Department and reported my case. Up to this date nothing has happened. All I want is to get
my stand back. The person who was allocated my stand must go back to the people he gave money and claim his dues,†she said and added that she
was prepared to stand in court and give evidence.
The beneficiaries urged UDCORP to visit all bank accounts of all the cooperatives at Gimboki and check whether there were any funds left.
“On the $24 million you want us to pay, can you deduct the money that is left in the co-operatives’ bank account as well as the value of some
things that we bought? There are some phases of the scheme that were almost complete while some were at different stages. You need to take that
into consideration and see exactly what is left. We think $24 million is just too much,†said one of the beneficiaries.
Mr Mudzvova dismissed the $24 million, saying UDCORP is yet to come up with a figure after quantifying progressed done on the scheme and
calculate what is needed to finish the work.
