The Combined Harare Residents Association and the Harare Residents Trust implore the Harare City Council to desist and halt transferring of municipal land to a third party (Pinnacle Properties and its
subsidiaries) under the instruction from Ministry of Local Government.
The use of public assets and in this case land to compensate or settle obligations involving third-parties especially where the third party have no direct entitlement to municipal land is unlawful and irregular.
We observe with concern that the Pinnacle and Ministry of Local Government and Public Works perennial squabbles which started around 2006 have been murky and opaque hence the local authority needs to be guided to avoid illegalities and losing properties along the way.
In this vein we reiterate that elected officials (councillors) who are mandated by the constitution to run the affairs of the City of Harare must make decisions that will ensure that public property is safeguarded
not lost, destroyed, damaged, misapplied or misused in terms of Section 308(3) of the Constitution.
We highlight that Section 274 (1) and (2) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe provide for the managementof the affairs of urban areas by local authorities by elected officials, such as the City of Harare
Furthermore under Section 276 (1) of the same Constitution, the City of Harare as a local authority, has the right to govern, on its initiative, the local affairs of the people within the area for which it has been
established and has all the powers necessary for it to do so.
The instruction and directive by the Ministry of Local Government to push council to transfer municipal that is committed by the local authority “elsewhere” is a direct attack to devolution in particular Section
276(1) of the Constitution.
We affirm that the City of Harare is constitutional establishment empowered and mandated to act on its own initiative, with limited interference by the central government. The City of Harare is a third tier of
government, not a department of the Ministry of Local Government and this constitutional arrangement must be respected.
Chapter 14 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe provides in Section 264 of the Constitution for the devolution of governmental powers and responsibilities to local authorities.
We recommend the City of Harare to do the following;
1.Immediately desist from transferring , disposing of , or in any way alienating municipal land to Government of Zimbabwe to compensate any third party (Pinnacle Holdings ).
- Provide full disclosure of any agreements of any agreements, memoranda of understanding, or
resolutions related to the intended or past transfer of municipal land for such purposes. - Undertake a broader consultative process with stakeholders, including residents and civil society
organisations, before making any decisions related to the alienation of public land.