ARTS hub Moto Republik founder Sam “Cde Fatso” Monro said they will be suing the Harare City Council for the damages caused by the “unlawful” attempt to demolish their wing structure in Harare last week.
BY WINSTONE ANTONIO
The front structure of the arts hub was almost pulled down by the city council last week before Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere’s intervention to halt the demolition.
“Our lawyers delivered a letter of demand to the city council on Friday demanding to stop the demolition and that they reimburse us for the unlawful attempt at demolishing,” Cde Fatso said, adding that should the city fail to reimburse them for damages caused, they would institute legal action.
“When minister Kasukuwere visited us on Monday we presented our approved plans from council and he said our documents were in order and there was no reason to demolish the structures and said he was going to liaise with the city fathers for them to engage us in a constructive way, so we can move forward with this issue,” he said.
Cde Fatso said the demolition was stopped and they were allowed to continue operating and empowering young people and providing “a very special space” in Harare.
“We are inspired and motivated by the massive outpouring on support from Zimbabwe and beyond as they has been overwhelming despondence of young people saying enough is enough, coming in supporting Moto Republik, evidenced by the thousands of signatures on the online petition,” he said.
Harare’s spokesperson, Michael Chideme, last week told our sister paper The Standard that the action to demolish Moto Republic was well within the law, suggests that the documents authoring the setting up of the arts hub were fraudulent.
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“There is a demolition order to pull down this structure because it is an illegal one and it was constructed without the council’s approval. We had given them a six-month’s notice some time ago,” Chideme said.
“Now we have given them a week to pull it down, so if they fail by Thursday next, we will come and assist them.”
