THERE is a development happening in Chitungwiza that we need to vigorously look into and act upon as a matter of urgency.
Prophet Walter Magaya, popularly known for his Prophetic, Healing and Deliverance Ministries Church, approached Chitungwiza Municipality with a plan to supposedly help with the development of a master plan.
Chitungwiza Municipality is more than 40 years old and to imagine that it has no master plan is beyond anybody’s comprehension.
How it has been developing for the past four decades with no master plan is like the mystery of a cruise ship that sails with no compass.
All these years, we have been witnessing the eruption of numerous developments in Chitungwiza Municipality and we learn now that there has never been a master plan.
Now the coming in of Magaya is even more curious.
The question that should not be avoided is: What is in it for Magaya?
Surely Magaya is not coming in as a philanthropist.
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We are aware that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Magaya’s company Wistmer Investments and Chitungwiza Municipality to guide the partnership.
However, what is intriguing is that Chitungwiza Municipality did not care to engage residents before committing itself to the MoU.
Further Chitungwiza Municipality deems it unnecessary to make known the contents of the MoU to residents.
This is telling and even scary.
Public affairs, according to our understanding, should be handled transparently.
We do not want to wake up one day to hear that the entire Chitungwiza Municipality belongs to one man.
As if not engaging the residents is not worse enough, we hear that the MoU was signed without a council resolution.
Numerous councillors we quizzed on the matter distanced themselves from the mortgaging of the people’s Big Village to an individual.
Our greatest fear as residents is that Magaya through the secretive MoU will eventually get all the land in Chitungwiza Municipality.
This is well informed by past deals that Chitungwiza Municipality has entered into, which have stripped the municipality of its assets with no benefit to the residents.
At this time, we expected all of us who represent the interests of Chitungwiza residents to coalesce and put up a fight until there is transparency in the Magaya deal.
The unfortunate story of Chitungwiza is that some stakeholders have become Trojan horses of the Magaya deal.
Some have become spokespersons of Magaya.
As Chitungwiza Residents Trust, we remain grounded on the mandate given to us by the people.
We will not waiver nor pander to the whims of a greedy capitalist agenda.
We are working with our lawyers to interdict this nefarious Magaya-Chitungwiza deal.
We are requesting Chitungwiza Municipality to furnish us with all the information pertaining to this deal.
We advise council to put to tender this issue of a master plan, not to handpick an individual masked behind the smokescreen of a philanthropist.
The enormity of the task of a master plan calls for transparency, meticulousness and meritocracy which may be beyond the limitations of a philanthropic piece of work.
It is our prayer as we psyche up residents’ agency and urgency on this matter that our beloved Chitungwiza is not mortgaged to an individual.
Alice Kuveya, Chitungwiza Residents Trust director
