The creation of an illegal joint venture company, “Sunshine Developments (Pvt)” between the City of Harare (CoH) and Kenneth Raydon Sharpe’s Augur Investments (OU) marked the beginning of the biggest land heist in post-colonial Zimbabwe, where Ken Sharpe is the biggest beneficiary at the expense of Zimbabweans, a report indicates.
According to a recent report on the work of a caretaker council appointed in 2008 to run the City of Harare, the creation of the Sunshine Developments (Pvt) was designed to loot countless hectares of land in Harare.
The illegal land deal was done with the blessing of former Minister of Local Government and National Housing, Ignatius Chombo. During his tenure as the responsible minister, Harare Commission led by Michael Mahachi had a direct involvement in the formation of Sunshine City.
Former City of Harare Boss, Michael Mahachi signed land deal (MOU) with Augur Investments. A forensic investigations report has unearthed the details of what happened behind the scenes.
The shareholders agreement asserted that Augur Investments OU was to inject between USD20-30 million to be channelled towards the construction of luxury houses. On the other hand, City of Harare was to provide 99.4 hectares of land.
However, Augur failed to honour its pledge as there was no monetary transaction that took place into the Sunshine Developments bank account.
“Michael Mahachi entered into a Joint Venture Agreement with Augur Investments OU, an Estonian registered company to establish a Joint Venture Company called Sunshine Developments (Pvt) Ltd.”
“According to the Shareholders Agreement, Augur Investments OU was to inject between USD20-30 million for the construction of luxury houses.”
Augur Investments through Sunshine Developments (Pvt) Ltd emerged the biggest land baron organization of the century. It received countless hectares of land despite failing to honor its pledge contained in the partnership agreement.
“The City Council’s contribution was to be in the form of land (99.4 hectares) which was valued in ZW$. The shareholding structure in this joint venture was to be 70%-30% for Augur Investments OU and City Council respectively.”
“Whereas the 99.4 hectares were transferred into Joint Venture Company there is no record of Augur Investments OU injecting the usd20-30 million into the project as per the terms of the Agreement.”
Tendai Mahachi another City Council Boss. Was directly involved in the Sunshine Development deal
The formation of the partnership agreement became a source to syphon Harare’s prime land disguised under the name of non-existent projects.
“The Sunshine Developments (Pvt) Ltd Joint Ventures entered into with Augur Investments OU by the Caretaker Council land under guise of projects that were meant to benefit City of Harare.”