Former Zanu-PF National Youth Political Commissar, Innocent Hamandishe has been implicated in five separate cases of land fraud where he is alleged to have duped unsuspecting land seekers in Harare.
Initial reports by the Commission of Inquiry into the sale of State Lands indicate that Hamandishe would sell non-existent land or dupe people into buying land acquired fraudulently.
Chief Investigator of the commission, Godfree Muza revealed that in one of the cases, Hamandishe received cash from people whom he had promised to sell land in the Caledonia farm area but did not deliver as per the agreement.
“Innocent Hamandishe received cash from people promising to give them stands but did not deliver. In a different case, he double allocated people land using fake Udicorp cards. Initially, people just went on to settle into Caledonia. Council tried to regularise, Udicorp was then involved to put in proper structures in the area,” said Muza.
He said all his cases are before the courts and Hamandishe could face arrest if found guilty.
The former Zanu-PF Youth leader is among several people who have been fingered in various land fraud cases during the hearing by the Lands Commission.
There has been a rampant mushrooming of illegal settlements in most urban areas, most of which were established from the illegal sale of state land by land barons who pounced on desperate home seekers.
The commission which was sworn by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in February has been on a fact-finding mission on the matter the sale of State land in and around urban areas since, is tasked, among other mandates, with investigating and ascertaining the actors involved in allocations, occupation and use of state land.
The commission is also investigating methods of acquisition and or allocation by current occupants and owners of such land.
Chairperson of the Commission, Justice Tendai Uchena, told a media briefing in Harare today that it was concerned by the continued purchase of land by cooperatives and developers who fail to due process.
“We are concerned by the cooperatives, developers, local authorities, individual state land sellers and any other state land actors are warned against continues sale of state land in cases where the commission has expressed reservations against the sale of such state land,” said Justice Uchena.
He strongly warned members of the public to desist from purchasing stands on state land for urban expansion purposes before verifying with the Ministry of Local Government on whether the purchases of such state land have the authority of such land.
