Trio in court for faking cooperative documentation...

Trio in court for faking cooperative documentation, trying to regularise 178 residential stands

Michael Mashiri

Zim Now Correspondent

Three people, who formed a cooperative, Sunungukai Housing Co-operative using fake documentation, reportedly with the intention of defrauding 178 residential stands, have been arraigned before the courts.

Robert Makwiza, 50, of Warren Park D, Robson Mugwagwa, 44 and Patricia Rusike, 50, of Cold Comfort, appeared before magistrate Dennis Mangosi at the Harare Magistrates’ Courts charged with fraud.

They were ordered to deposit US$100 each and will appear in court on August 2, for their routine remand.

The complainant in this matter is City of Harare, represented by Ardmore Nhekairo, City of Harare’s Housing Director.

The State, through prosecutor Rufaro Chonzi, alleges that in 2010, Benson Choto and other members identified a vacant piece of land behind Nazarene Church.

They then formed Sunungukai Housing Co-operative which they went on to register in 2015 at the Registrar of Co-operative Societies.

In 2016, the City of Harare, in line with government policy, converted the housing cooperatives into pay-schemes.

On November 11, 2021, the accused allegedly compiled foundational minutes dated November 10 , 2021, marking the formation of Sunungukai Housing Co-operative Limited, where they resolved to tour an open space in Warren Park D, Harare, they targeted to invade for development of residential stands.

They connived and obtained a forged certificate of registration number 4867 for their purported co-operative.

The registration certificate was purported to have been signed by the Registrar of Co-operatives on March 16, 2012, yet the first minutes, which led to the formation of the cooperative, were allegedly done on November 10, 2021.

It is alleged that on June 1, 2023, the accused allegedly representing their fake cooperative as Chairperson, Vice Chairperson and Treasurer respectively, made an application to the City of Harare seeking regularisation of the open space they had invaded.

On June 5, 2023, they allegedly tendered their forged certificate of registration and application letter to City of Harare, together with a site map of the area, seeking to regularise allocation of 178 residential stands.

City of Harare opened a file for Sunungukai Housing Co-operative Limited as a result of the misrepresentation that had been made, it processed the application and layout plan for the accused’s fake co-operative, which is nearing approval.

City of Harare made resolutions for the proposed regularisation and allocation of the 178 stands to the accused’s fake co-operative to their prejudice to good administration.

Investigations through Registrar of Co-operatives revealed that the accused’s cooperative was not registered and their registration certificate was fake.

According to the Registrar of Co-operatives records, registration certificate number 4867 was for another co-operative by the name “Women in Power Multipurpose Co-operative” that was registered on March 16, 2012.