ZACC arrests Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume and former MP Shadreck Mashayamombe

HARARE – Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume and former Zanu-PF Harare South legislator Shadreck Mashayamombe have reportedly been arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC).

At the time of writing, the charges were not yet clear. However, Mashayamombe is not new to corruption allegations.

Mashayamombe was accused in 2023 of playing a central role in a land dispute at Lot 4 Hopley, Harare, where residents faced evictions and demolitions. He was alleged to have allocated residential stands in 2014 to Zanu-PF youths through Harare South Housing Projects Cooperative Pvt (Ltd), an entity he formed, under questionable circumstances.

After his expulsion from Zanu-PF in 2015, he was accused of attempting to repossess the same land through Tanaka Development Group (TDG), a company in which he allegedly holds a 60% shareholding.

In 2023, allegations emerged that TDG had acquired more than 52 hectares of state land in Hopley and Grobbie Park from the Ministry of Local Government in 2014 but failed to pay the agreed intrinsic value of about US$305,000.

Reports indicated that the company paid only about US$12,000 while selling stands commercially, allegedly prejudicing the State of nearly US$300,000. That year, ZACC confirmed it was investigating corruption allegations linked to the transaction.

Mashayamombe was also accused in 2023 of breaching a Memorandum of Agreement with government that required TDG to service the land by providing roads, water, electricity, and other infrastructure before occupation.

Despite these obligations, the company was alleged to have sold and allowed occupation of unserviced stands without certificates of compliance or occupation, while pursuing evictions of the original beneficiaries.

The allegations were cited as part of wider claims that politically connected land barons were illegally parcelling out state land for personal and political gain.

In 2024, President Emmerson Mnangagwa appointed a Commission of Inquiry led by Justice Maphios Cheda to investigate deep-seated corruption, mismanagement, and governance failures at the Harare City Council dating back to 2017.

The commission uncovered extensive financial losses, illegal land sales, abuse of authority by senior officials, excessive executive salaries, and the failure to implement critical systems such as an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform.

Public hearings were held, during which council officials and other witnesses gave testimony that exposed widespread graft within the local authority.

The findings were presented to Mnangagwa in mid-2025.