Council, residents clash over stands

RESIDENTS have dragged Victoria Falls City Council to the High Court seeking a declaratory order exempting them from the vetting process for residential land allocation.

The local authority is implementing the Kazungula Housing Scheme, which will have over 400 housing stands and recently received an overwhelming number of close to 10 000 applications.

Town clerk Mr Ronnie Dube has called for calm, urging home seekers to be patient, as the process will be delayed because of the overwhelming applications.

He said the council has finished the data collection stage which will lead to vetting before allocation.

However, a group of 67 home-seekers who were once allocated offer letters for stands in the Buffer Zone between Mkhosana and Chinotimba suburbs are seeking an order barring the council from subjecting them to a vetting process because they already have offer letters, which should guarantee them automatic allocation.

In their urgent chamber application, the residents led by their chairperson, Mr Oswald Kunda, are the applicants represented by Ncube Attorneys, while Victoria Falls City Council represented by Dube, Nkala and Company is the respondent. The matter, Case Number 343/24 has not been set down for hearing.

“Applicants are a loose grouping of Victoria Falls residents also called Buffer Zone beneficiaries. Council promised to allocate them stands at the BE100 buffer zone area and to have the applicants vetted separately. Submission of documents and vetting would not apply to applicants as that was done from 2008 to 2010 hence the offers that were made to them were accepted and payments were made,” reads part of the application.

“Applicants acted when it became clear that the respondent was sidelining applicants in the stands delivery process. Applicants believe they had a contract with the council based on the offer letters and acceptance they made.

“Stands were yet to be surveyed when council entered into a partnership with CBZ Bank to develop the stands but were sold by the bank to third parties and as a result, applicants lost out despite having offer letters and having paid requisite fees.”

Through the application, the residents are seeking an order stopping the council from vetting them but to prioritise them in the stands allocation as they allege a violation of their right to access to land and housing.

In his opposing affidavit and preliminary points, Mr Dube said there was no urgency and cause for action in the application by the applicants as it contains untruthful information.

He said as opposed to claims by applications that allocation had commenced, only a vetting process had started and dates when home-seekers will be vetted will be announced.

He said some applicants were not properly before the courts as they have not deposed affidavits.

Mr Dube said no legally binding contract of sale was made between the council and the applicants, save for a conditional offer to sell and acceptance to purchase a stand, which was subject to meeting set conditions. The Buffer Zone was allocated housing stands in 2016 and called BC864 on the Chinotimba side and BC242 Mkhosana side.

He said some of the applicants were vetted before and allocated stands and hence do not qualify for the current scheme.

“Applicants have to be subjected to the vetting process, which would determine who qualifies and who does not. The applicants submitted applications for housing stands separately into a special category,” said Mr Dube.

“Applicants are grossly mistaken or ill-advised to think that submission of documents as called for by the advert and vetting process does not apply to them.

“Each housing scheme has its requirements and applicants are not exempt from council policy but will only be considered a matter of priority and we advised,” he said.

The council has said it classified the applicants into four categories: those with Buffer Zone offer letters, those with houses or stands, those on the Buffer Zone waiting list and submitted under a special category, and those with on the waiting list but did not submit under a special category.

Mr Dube said applicants are asking the court to force the respondent to violate its stand allocation policy and breach its terms of offer by seeking to circumvent the vetting process, hence the council prays for dismissal of the application for lack of merit and costs of suit at a higher scale.