Two notorious Melfort land barons arrested for swindling people of their cash by illegally selling council land today appeared before Goromonzi magistrate Shelly Zvenyika.
Rodgers Pote, 40, and Arther Chidenhe, 28, were remanded out of custody after magistrate Zvenyika ordered them to deposit $20 000 bail.
Pote and Chidenhe were arrested at the instigation of Zanu PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu.
“The party during the meeting was informed that the developers for Melfort area were Rodgers Pote, Arthur Chideme and Life Machingura of Vintage Property and East Winds Association fraudulently acquired a development permit and this position was affirmed by the court on 24 December 2020.
“This nullified all the activities which were done under this developer. Meanwhile, the party supports the on-going regularisation programme of residential stands across the nation to mitigate housing shortages and is being undertaken by the ministry of housing,” Mpofu said recently.
Police sources confirmed that they are also looking for Zanu PF Mashonaland East chairperson Kelvin Mutsvairo and his political commissar Lincoln Matare who also abused their positions to illegally parcel land to desperate home seekers.
This comes after hundreds of residents of Diamond Park in Melfort were recently left stranded after the government demolished their houses.
Ironically, the residents in Melfort are linked to the ruling party as the project was being run by Zanu PF youths who were dropping names of senior party members to swindle people’s money.
This also comes as the outgoing youth leaders are trying to mudsling the late former Transport minister Biggie Matiza’s son, Batsirai, who is being pushed by the ruling party’s grassroots supporters to contest for the provincial youth chairperson position.
Some of the senior leaders in the province have been rattled by the coming in of Batsirai who has embarked on developmental projects which are set to empower many youths in the province.
