Local Government minister Daniel Garwe has been drawn into a land dispute that resulted in the arrest of Harare mayor Jacob Mafume, his deputy Rosemary Muronda, and former Harare South MP Shadreck Mashayamombe.
The three were arrested after Marvis Java approached the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) claiming that she had been sold a non-existent commercial stand in Newlands.
Mafume was released on the same day, while Muronda and Mashayamombe were each granted US$500 bail on Friday after Java withdrew the charges against them.
However, it has emerged that Garwe was at the centre of the dispute after he ordered the transfer of the Newlands land to Logara Properties and instructed the Harare City Council to defy a High Court order that had acknowledged the land belonged to four companies that initiated the layout plan.
According to court papers, the companies are: Clean Burn Energy, owned by Mashayamombe; Gemdale Investments, owned by a Chinese businessman named Giene; Diexodos Marketing, linked to Muronda and Aspire Elite Incorporated, linked to Mafume.
The companies initiated the process in 2023 and secured a High Court order on July 24 last year to protect their interests, after noting that other powerful individuals were attempting to take the land.
But problems began when Garwe wrote to the council on the same day, ordering the local authority to defy the court order and parcel out the land to Logara Properties.
The council refused to comply and continued the process to allocate the land to the four companies.
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On September 4, the City of Harare wrote a finance report seeking approval for the allocation, which was signed by the town clerk on September 5, 2025.
It was approved by the council in a full meeting in October last year, after which a public notice was issued inviting objections.
No objections were raised.
However, soon after, Garwe called another meeting with Mafume, insisting the land be handed over to Logara — despite the council having already completed the process to provide lease agreements to the four companies.
Garwe claimed Logara would invest US$70 million in the greenfield project.
Around the same time, the four companies were approached by a consortium of business people linked to the first family, who proposed collaborating on developing the land and later buying out the companies.
The companies agreed.
Garwe sought to use political influence to seize the land, claiming the order had come from President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
He had been working with Logara, which had no legal claim to the land until December last year, when the minister attempted to swap the valuable plot with one of lesser value from elsewhere.
According to court papers, Mafume, Mashayamombe and Muronda denied ever dealing with Java, who had sought to act as a middleman between the companies and the consortium.
The three stated Java was not part of the transaction.
Investigations by The Standard revealed that Java claimed to represent Aspire Elite, the company linked to Mafume.
Garwe is now at the mercy of the first family, whose consortium owns the land.
Mafume and Mashayamombe were released after the first family intervened, source said.
