Zanu PF central committee member Amos Midzi is embroiled in a rental dispute with a Harare businessman after he abandoned his property, leaving harmful chemicals, two years ago.
The chemicals are reportedly corroding the building’s floor and walls, but the Zanu PF Harare provincial chairman has refused to remove them.
Documents in our possession show that Midzi and his partner Robson Mafoti, through their company Paidridge Investments, rented an industrial property belonging to Southerton Security owned by Bashir Omar.
Omar told NewsDay the chemicals were now permeating into the walls and could be harmful as bricks were starting to crumble.
“For the first four years they were paying rent, but they started falling behind on payment of utilities and I had to force them to close,” he said. “It is two years now since they stopped operating and all the phone calls, messages and meetings we have had . . . have not been respected.”
The chemicals have caused serious damage to the walls.
Omar said he had pursued numerous avenues, including seeking the intervention of Zanu PF chairman Simon Khaya Moyo, to resolve the dispute to no avail.
“In April this year we went to see Simon Khaya Moyo hoping that he would assist us to get these guys to pay,” he said.
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“What a wonderful man this Khaya Moyo is, very understanding, and a week later he phoned and said he had talked to Midzi and that he would be vacating.
“Three months down the line, these guys have made zero effort to move from the property.” He added that Midzi had at one point threatened him with unspecified action saying he would use his Zanu PF links to “fix” him.
Asked to comment, Midzi initially told NewsDay that he had already vacated the premises and there was no need to speak on the matter.
“The position is very clear, we were renting the premises and we have decided to move,” he said.
“We have already moved, we have moved purification tanks. There isn’t any other issue as we are actually in the process of moving,” Midzi said.
But the former Mines minister later phoned NewsDay saying people he had tasked to relocate the equipment had told him that they had not completed the job.
“The position is that there has been a disagreement on rentals,” Midzi said. “The decision is to relocate the equipment and most of the equipment has been moved, but there is still some bits and pieces left.”
