Harare land barons charged with fraud over forged documents to acquire land for resale

ZIMSPHERE 

HARARE—Two directors of Brickstone Builders and Contractors Private Limited, Lillian Chitanga (52) and Spencer Mabeka (45), face fraud charges in the Harare Magistrates' Court for allegedly forging documents to acquire land for resale.

Image: File Photo 

The State alleges that in May 2002, the City of Harare approved a plan to subdivide land in Belvedere Ridge View into 52 residential stands, but the plan was never executed. 

Chitanga and Mabeka are accused of forging a distribution letter for a layout plan dated April 20, 2021, and an offer letter dated April 22, 2021, both allegedly signed by the Principal Director of Physical Planning in the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works.

The pair also purportedly forged an offer letter dated December 15, 2015, claiming 14.4354 hectares of land, supposedly signed by the Housing Director of the City of Harare. 

Using these fraudulent documents, they allegedly developed 52 residential stands and sold them to 45 unsuspecting buyers for amounts ranging from $25,000 to $40,000.

The buyers, believing the land to be legally theirs, erected structures that were later demolished by the city council. In response, Chitanga and Mabeka filed an urgent chamber application with the High Court to prevent further demolitions and evictions, falsely claiming ownership of the land with counterfeit documents.

Investigations by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) established that the documents presented were not authentic, leading to the suspects' arrest. 

The bail hearing for the accused is ongoing.