Chitungwiza dumps Magaya ‘donation’

CHITUNGWIZA municipality has dumped Prophet Walter Magaya controversial’s deal after it was rejected during a hastily convened special council meeting held on the day the Memorandum of Agreement leaked.

The MOA sought the establishment of a collaborative relationship between Council and Wistmer for the preparation of the Chitungwiza Master Plan.

According to a letter to Wistmer Investments the acting town clerk, Japson Nemuseso said council had decided to reject the MOA following a special council meeting that was held on 8 April.

“The rejection of the Memorandum of Agreement was mainly based on the conditions that you set out in Article 1 paragraphs 1.1 to 1.5.

“Council is of the view that the donation should not have conditions.”

Irate residents had piled on pressure on council to reject the proposed deal that they said, if approved, would have mortgaged the town for 10 years to Wistmer Investments (Pvt) Ltd, a company owned by Magaya.

Residents were not happy with the contents of a leaked Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between Chitungwiza and Wistmer Investments and feel betrayed by council for making such critical decisions without consulting them.

According to the MOA which is in possession of ZCN, if the deal had through Wistmer will have enjoyed “an exclusive and irrevocable Right of First Refusal to participate as the lead private partner for any Smart City Projects the Municipality intends to implement; and exclusive development rights to solely undertake Smart City Projects for an initial period of 10 years from the date of this Agreement”.