adminTHE Bulawayo City Council is locked in yet another another residential stands wrangle, with councillors accusing officials in the Housing and Community Services department of dragging their feet in the allocation of stands that have already been sold.
The councillors allege that stands in Magwegwe North were yet to be disbursed despite the fact that they were sold last year following a motion authorising their sale.
It is further alleged that the officials were failing to disburse stands in Luveve after they sold stands to 1 000 desperate home seekers when only 800 were available.
“We passed this motion more than eight months ago, when they requested authority to sell the stands there (in Magwegwe North). Initially they had said 700 stands but they then reduced the figure to 400, under unclear circumstances.
“What puzzles us now is that for some reason they continue dragging their feet in allocating these stands, while our housing backlog continues to balloon. When we made inquiries we were told they were waiting for the city valuer to give them a figure, but honestly can it take eight months to do this?” said the council source.
Another councillor said they now suspected that there was substance to accusations that the department operated a parallel housing waiting list which was now causing the problem of over allocation.
“It should never take this long just to allocate these stands. Besides, we will end up questioning how the figure was reduced from 700 to 400. Clearly something is amiss,” said the councillor.
When Sunday News sent questions to the BCC senior public relations officer Mrs Nesisa Mpofu two weeks ago, she claimed it would be premature to comment on the matter as it was going to be included in the full council meeting agenda. The meeting was held on Wednesday 5 August.
“This matter will be in the next Council Agenda. Discussing it now will be premature,” said Mrs Mpofu.
However, the matter was not included in the council agenda. Instead, the department was requesting authority to sell stands in Tshabalala (49 stands), Magwegwe West (390 stands), Emganwini (360 stands) and Woodville (144 stands), without any mention of Magwegwe North.
Contacted for comment, the city’s Mayor, Councillor Martin Moyo, confirmed that there was a hold-up in the distribution of the stands, revealing that he would immediately check with the relevant department to investigate the matter.
“Yes there is something like that. Initially they said they were waiting for the valuation of the stands now I wouldn’t know what the delay is about. I would have expected that they be disbursed sooner than later. I will soon investigate to find out what is happening considering that we have a lot of people out there who want accommodation,” said Clr Moyo.
In the initial housing scam, it was alleged that officials in the department had arranged for a senior housing officer to travel to the United Kingdom to collect money made in the unscrupulous sale of the Luveve stands.
Confirming these developments, the then city’s acting town clerk, Mrs Sikhangele Zhou, said if any official was found to have acted unscrupulously they would face the necessary legal recourse.
“We only learnt about this anomaly recently which is worrying because these stands were dispatched a couple of years ago. The audit team is currently investigating the matter so that first we establish what really went wrong, punish whoever is found on the wrong side of the law and ensure that residents who were affected can be compensated with other stands.
“Just as proof of the magnitude of this scam, one cannot just sell a housing stand to an individual without having first shown them the stand. Whenever someone pays for a stand they are supposed to be given a house number. Besides, stands themselves can never have similar prices as this is determined by the size of the stand. Therefore, it is not only impossible for one to just sell out stands but it is also illegal,” said Mrs Zhou.
She called on members of the public who were caught up in this scam to approach council and further assured them not to panic as council had already identified land in Magwegwe North where they would be allocated stands.
Online Reporter