By Victor Fanuel
Harare – The government has directed the City of Harare to compensate Pinnacle Holdings, owned by business and property mogul Phillip Chiyangwa, for land it lost in the capital.
In a letter to Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume, Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe instructed the city to compensate Pinnacle Holdings using council land.
Garwe cited previous disputes between the city and Pinnacle Holdings, referencing council minutes dated December 17, 2024, and May 8, 2025.
“As you are aware and highlighted in the above postcode in the previous discussion, the Minister of Local Government and Public Works signed a compensation agreement with Pinnacle Holdings for his land in Harare South and Warren Park,” Garwe said.
Mayor Mafume acknowledged the directive and emphasized its significance.
“The relationship of Pinnacle Property Holdings and this council is not new. At some point, we had an agreement in the memorandum of understatement signed with Pinnacle, ourselves, the Local Government minister and Pinnacle over Stone Ridge Properties.
“The Stone Ridge Properties, as we know, part of them belong to Pinnacle and they have been occupied,” Mafume said.
“Pinnacle has been engaged in legal disputes between us, the government and the Supreme Court, which could lead, maybe, to the eviction of people at that place if the interpretation of the law is taken to the letter.
“But the route that has been taken by Pinnacle is to negotiate with council. The first attempt at our negotiation was abortive.
“Among the properties identified for compensation by claimants, there are properties that are owned by the City of Harare. Below is the list of properties,” added Mafume.
Councillor Denford Ngadziore stressed the need to follow legal procedures in the land transfer.
“If we are to do this land transfer, we cannot sit as council and agree to things without following the right path; we love to stick to the Constitution, not just agree,” he said.
“We are not going to hand over land without doing the land evaluation process, because what if we give someone property that is not equivalent to the space of his land.”
The directive to compensate Pinnacle Holdings with council land raises serious questions about the autonomy and jurisdiction of the City of Harare.
By overriding local decision-making processes and sidestepping due procedures such as land valuation and public consultation, the move may constitute a breach of council authority.
Civil society watchdogs and Harare residents’ associations, which have consistently criticized the government’s handling of urban land issues, are likely to resist the directive.
Many view the compensation of Chiyangwa, a politically connected businessman, with public land as emblematic of elite privilege and a potential misuse of resources meant for the broader public good.
