BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE
A CROATIAN businessman has appealed for consular protection and diplomatic intervention claiming that he was facing prosecution disclosing that Chikomo Chemhute Cemetery, which is part of Glen Forest Memorial Park, was an illegal enterprise.
Joseph Richard Crnkovic addressed his letter dated November 15, 2021 to the European Union delegation to Zimbabwe, Croatian consul in Pretoria, South Africa, and British ambassador Melanie Robinson.
In the letter, Crnkovic said he was deported from Zimbabwe on December 21, 2015 and declared a prohibited immigrant after the disclosure.
Crnkovic is a director of Fopuld Investments (Pvt) Ltd Zimbabwe which is said to hold 49% shareholding in Cadrina Investments (Pvt) Ltd, which also owns Chikomo Chemhute.
Chikomo Chemhute is an entity registered for purposes of holding the asset which houses the Glen Forest Memorial Park.
“The farm (is not compliant with) section 35 of Zimbabwe Cemeteries Act,” Crnkovic wrote.
“Furthermore, it is in the catchment area of the Mazowe Dam with no Environmental Management Agency (Ema) approval to establish a cemetery in this area.”
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Crnkovic said he was seeking protection because he was being charged for a crime that he was not aware of. He alleged that he also received summons on November 18, 2021 to appear in court for a criminal trial.
“However, I have not been availed the State’s evidence. I am told that a warrant for my arrest has already been issued so I cannot go to Harare to prepare.
“I seek your urgent consular protection and intervention in this matter as I have been arrested and detained once already and now cannot return to the country of my first nationality without being arrested again,” Crnkovic wrote.
On October 12, he also wrote to the British ambassador seeking diplomatic intervention.
“There is a farm called Chikomo Chemuto (Pvt) Limited which currently has a government certificate of no present interest. This farm was fraudulently hidden from the books of Candrina Investments (Pvt) Limited, trading as Glen Forests Memorial Park. And no disclosures were made regarding its existence at the board I sat on,” he said.
“There are sensitive issues at play here because you have an estimated 20 000 to 40 000 people buried on a hidden and illegal cemetery, which is a farm, and there is no Ema approval to bury people on this farm because it is in the catchment area of the Mazowe Dam and right next to Mazowe River.”
Fungai Mparadzi, the chairman of Cadrina Investments, through his company representative Marowa Meleki said Glen Forest Memorial Park had all the required documents from the relevant authorities, including Goromonzi Rural District Council.
Meleki recently said Chikomo Chemhute was part of the Glen Forest Memorial Park, where families are allowed to choose places to bury their relatives.
“Glen Forest is an independent company that operates a cemetery and a crematorium. Glen Forest operates legally and has approval from Goromonzi Rural District Council and all appropriate line ministries. Glen Forest has Ema approval to operate a cemetery and a crematorium. It buries everybody in lined graves, and this was a condition given by Ema in its approval,” Meleki said.
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