THE Hopley Housing Cooperative is embroiled in a bitter dispute over an audit report that uncovered gross mismanagement, unauthorised payments, missing funds, and a lack of accountability among its leadership.
The Hopley Housing Cooperative Door-to-door Stands audit, conducted by the cooperative’s land audit committee covering the period from 2013 to July 2024, highlighted significant irregularities within the organisation.
The Hopley Housing Cooperative audit report revealed that there were 37 unregistered occupants of stands and 14 more that were disputed due to double allocations.
A recent investigation supported by the Information for Development Trust (IDT) uncovered instances of double allocations that have left many residents at risk of losing their homes.
According to the investigation, nearly 50 Hopley residents face the unsettling reality of potential eviction due to alleged double allocation of stands in the area.
For affected residents, the consequences have been devastating, with some losing houses they had spent years building after discovering their stands were fraudulently sold to other claimants.
While a majority of members have welcomed the audit findings, others, including the co-operative’s secretary-general, Francis Dekete, have criticised the report.
Dekete dismissed the findings as a personal attack, alleging they were part of a witch-hunt aimed at tarnishing his reputation.
He denied any wrongdoing, claiming that several issues raised in the audit, such as land disputes, had been resolved years ago.
The audit report recommended disciplinary action against the management committees implicated in the irregularities.
In November 2024, the audit committee issued a letter calling for Dekete’s suspension, citing multiple allegations, including removing cooperative records from the office to his home and failing to provide documents required for the audit.
Additionally, Dekete is accused of unilaterally suspending the treasurer without approval from the management committee and issuing unauthorised receipts to members.
“He issued receipts to members without the authority of the management committee,” a letter written by Peter Paratema, audit committee secretary, stated relating to allegations of abuse of office.
A meeting held on November 9 to address these issues saw 33 members vote in favour of Dekete’s suspension, while 22 opposed it.
“The other members of the cooperative management committee will remain in charge of the cooperative’s affairs, except for Dekete, who has been suspended with immediate effect,” Paratema stated in the suspension letter following the November 9 meeting.
Despite this, Dekete has refused to vacate his position, arguing that the suspension was not legally binding.
He also did not attend the meeting and refused to accept correspondence requesting the surrender of cooperative books and assets. Another letter dated December 1, outlined a directive for Dekete to surrender all co-operative books and property within 48 hours.
This included financial records, membership lists, meeting minutes, and other documents or assets belonging to the co-operative. Failure to comply, the letter warned, could result in further action.
The Hopley Housing Cooperative has set February 1 for a meeting to update the members about the audit report and follow-up on the surrender of the cooperative’s books and property from the secretary.
“You are required to surrender these items to the supervisory committee within 48 hours from the date of receipt of this letter. Failure to comply with this request may result in further action being taken,” the letter reads.
A member of the cooperative revealed that a formal request for assistance has been sent to the Ministry registrar to help recover the withheld records and assets.
Meanwhile, Dekete maintains that the double allocation issue mentioned in the audit report was resolved through a process overseen by the City of Harare and other stakeholders.
According to Dekete, the resolution in 2015 led to the proper allocation of stands to individual members who had fulfilled their payment obligations.
“The allocations of stands were done in 2015 as per council allocation offer letter written to Hopley Housing Cooperative in 2006,” he said.
“A thorough investigation and stands auditing by the Harare City Council audit committee to ascertain ownership or membership of stands/shares was done in 2015 . . .
“This exercise resulted or gave birth to the transfer of ownership/shares of stands to individual members, who participated in the development payments and also paid intrinsic land sales to the City Council starting October 2015,” Dekete said in response to the audit.
He said Hopley Housing Cooperative always had a lot of problems of double allocations, some of which were resolved, while others were reported to the police.
However, the audit’s findings have brought renewed scrutiny to the management of Hopley Housing Co-operative, with allegations of poor coordination, corruption, and political interference causing widespread concern.
The chaos at Hopley reflects a broader housing crisis in Zimbabwe, where urban population growth has outpaced the government’s ability to provide adequate housing.
The country faces a housing deficit of 1,2 million units, and settlements such as Hopley have become symbols of unregulated urban expansion and the consequences of mismanagement.
With an estimated 80 000 residents crammed into poorly planned housing units, Hopley epitomises the consequences of unregulated urban expansion.
