ONE of the villagers who allegedly bought land from Zanu PF councillor Edith Gumbo at Lochard Resettlement in Fort Rixon told the court yesterday that the councillor once pleaded with them not to report the matter to police after the shady deal was exposed. BY SILAS NKALA
Gumbo is alleged to have sold various pieces of land to desperate villagers for prices ranging from $400 to $500 before Chief Jahana got wind of the illegal deals and ordered the villagers to vacate the area saying the occupied land was designated for livestock grazing.
Gumbo (43) appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Tawanda Muchemwa yesterday charged with illegal selling of land and she pleaded not guilty to the charges. She was represented by city lawyer Tanaka Muganyi.
However, one of the victims, Mirriam Tshabangu, met Gumbo on June 5, 2012 and was allocated a piece of land after paying $400.
“When we met I gave her $400 for a stand and she said she would bring the receipt from Filabusi council office and up to date we have not received any receipt,” said Tshabangu.
“After giving her the money she allocated the stand to me and that is where I have been staying for three years now.”
Tshabangu said she was paying tax to the Fibalusi Rural District Council and the problem started recently when the local Chief Jahana ordered them to vacate the farm saying it is a grazing land.
“This angered us since we had bought that land,” said Tshabangu.
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“Chief Jahana told us to leave the land and that is when we went to Gumbo to query.
She pleaded with us asking that we should not report her to the police as she would make sure that she pays us back our money.”
She admitted that she had no papers to show any transactions she had with Gumbo but insisted that Gumbo had promised to bring the papers from Filabusi council offices.
The magistrate remanded the case to June 4 for continuation when two other alleged victims, Eloaf Dube and Daniel Hlongwane, will be called to testify in the case.
