HARARE – The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) has pushed back against claims by Harare mayor Jacob Mafume that it approved the setting up of illegal structures at the Raylton Sports Club, denouncing them as misleading.
Appearing before parliament’s Public Accounts Committee last week, Mafume implied that tuck-shops erected on land leased by the NRZ were constructed with the approval of the railways, but an NRZ spokesman said this was not accurate.
“These tuck-shops are illegal structures resulting from fraudulent collusion between a former Raylton bartender and the illegal occupiers,” the NRZ spokesman said in a statement.
“Event hire permits were misconstrued as leases, leading the City of Harare (COH) to wrongly approve their construction without NRZ’s consent.”
NRZ said that upon discovering the anomaly, the company promptly objected to COH, citing the lack of an official lease and the violation of existing land use agreements. This objection led to police intervention, culminating in arrests and internal disciplinary actions resulting in the bartender’s dismissal.
“Despite our objections, COH initially withdrew approvals and issued demolition orders on paper, which were never executed,” NRZ continued.
“Subsequently, we initiated a High Court eviction case against the illegal constructors, naming COH as co-respondents.”
Expressing surprise over Mafume’s apparent lack of awareness of these facts, NRZ criticised the mayor for not verifying information with the Town Clerk’s office beforehand.
“If he had conducted proper checks, he would have acknowledged our efforts in combating illegal occupation,” the NRZ representative remarked. “Instead, his statements have unfairly besmirched NRZ’s reputation.”
