adminThe council on Thursday invited tenders for the lease of 52 council shops in the four suburbs of Iminyela, Mabutweni, Njube and Pelandaba.
On Sunday, on the sidelines of a Zanu-PF special provincial co-ordinating committee meeting at Davies Hall, Dr Chombo ordered the cancellation of the tender.
In an interview yesterday, Bulawayo’s Town Clerk Mr Middleton Nyoni said council would go ahead with the tender unless Dr Chombo communicated formally with the local authority on the issue.
“The Minister has not approached us over the issue. We only read about it in the Press. We need written communication to act on such directives. As long as we do not have that, we are going ahead with the tender,” said Mr Nyoni.
He said there was no guarantee that council would stop even when Dr Chombo puts the directive in writing.
“It is not automatic that we will stop. There are some issues regarding the shops that Dr Chombo may not be aware of. We need to appraise the Minister of the issues as they may make him change his stance,” said Mr Nyoni without going into details.
Council’s decision to invite interested people to rent the shops was condemned by sitting tenants some of whom wanted to buy the shops from the local authority.
The Bulawayo City Council also indicated that the kiosks at the Centenary Park, Barham Green and North End swimming pools were also up for grabs.
Dr Chombo said there was a disturbing tendency in local authorities, especially the big ones, where people who had been renting properties on a rent to buy agreement for more than 40 years were being chucked out of the properties and new tenants given the option to buy.
He said the trend was criminal.
Dr Chombo said Bulawayo’s Governor and Resident Minister, Ambassador Cain Mathema had spoken to him about the issue and his office was taking action.
He said even on properties where there was no rent to buy agreement, a tenant who had been renting for such a long time should be given first option to buy the property as they would have paid enough rent to buy the premises anyway.
Dr Chombo said Ambassador Mathema would soon supply his office with a list of the affected shops so that he could take action and ensure justice for sitting tenants.
Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Thaba Moyo is on record as saying council policy clearly stated that the shops remained council property and the local authority reserved the right to terminate leases at any given time.
He said a council audit had revealed that most of the shops were no longer honouring their initial lease agreements.
Clr Moyo said the local authority had initially given the owners notice in 2006, but after noting the economic climate in the country, it was resolved to further extend the leases by six years and a further extension was out of the question.
Online Reporter