Controversial land baron Kenneth Raydon Sharpe received hefty amounts of state land through his company Augur Investments OU in Harare without the President’s approval, court papers reveal. The land in question is a state land.
This was revealed by court papers recently filed by Allan Norman Markham as the 1st Applicant’s Answering Affidavit in which Augur Investments OU, Kenneth Raydon Sharpe, Tatiana Aleshina, Michael Van Blerk, and Dorex Properties are sited as respondents.
Markham the 1st Applicant alleges that the disputed land was transferred to Ken Sharpe (1st Respondent) without having President Emerson Mnangagwa’s authority.
According to law, a state land is alienated after having an issuance of a Power of Attorney by the President before the transfer of the land. This however did not happen when the disputed land was transferred to Shape’s Augur Investments OU.
“The position being maintained is not a correct position of the law. The Head of State is not being sued in his personal capacity. Furthermore, no relief is being prayed from him. In fact, this application is for the interest of the President. The President of the Republic of Zimbabwe is being alerted to the fact that land that belongs to him has been stolen from him without him signing any document including the Power of Attorney to transfer the land.”
According to the legal documents, the Sheriff of the High Court of Zimbabwe instead signed the Power of Attorney, a move that raises more questions than answers. The fact that Power of Attorney excludes the President makes the transfer of land illegal.
Furthermore, the High Court Application serves as a reminder that Sharpe stoles a land that belongs to the President.
“The Sheriff of the High Court of Zimbabwe Mr Madega in fact signed the Power of Attorney to transfer the land.
It is therefore absurd and ironic that a party that executed an agreement that excluded the President when the land belongs to the President cries foul when the President himself is being alerted to the fact that his land has been stolen.”
In what is described as Sharpe’s agility and ability to engage in the unexplainable, standing the guts to paid in the form of State land when in actual fact, he failed to complete the construction of Airport Road.
“I am at a loss as to how to classify the 1st Respondent. Its agility and ability to engage in the unexplainable is without precedent. We know as a matter of fact that Augur Investments OU did not perform. That is why the agreement was cancelled. Augur Investments itself does not deny that it did not perform. It simply offers excuses as to why it did not perform.”