Former finance minister Ignatius Chombo amassed vast tracts of prime land across the country by grabbing the 20% commonage land which developers are mandated by the Local Government Act to reserve for the construction of government premises such as police stations, schools and offices, the Zimbabwe Independent has learnt.
Local Government ministry sources this week said Chombo, who was Local Government minister from 2000 to 2015 before being appointed home affairs minister and subsequently finance minister, grabbed large tracts of land countrywide before converting some of the plots into residential stands which he sold at a premium.
The principle, known as commonage, compels land developers to surrender 20% of serviced residential stands and all the commercial and institutional stands when developing state land to the local authority. Chombo used this loophole to amass a lot of land countrywide.
“Developers are mandated to reserve 20% of the land where they will be servicing for residential stands so that the local councils can construct offices or schools,” an official said.
“However, Chombo made sure that some of the commonage land in several cities around the country was registered in his name and he would later subdivide it into residential stands which were sold to people.”
Chombo’s vast wealth came to light during a messy divorce with his wife Marian in 2010.
In court documents, Marian exposed that Chombo owned countless houses as well as a vast portfolio of commercial and residential stands around the country.
She revealed that he had two flats in Queensdale, a flat at San Sebastian Flats in the Avenues as well as a property at 79 West Road in Avondale, 36 Cleveland Road, Milton Park, 135 Port Road, Norton, a house in Greendale, two Bulawayo houses, among other assets.