admin
Sunday Leisure Correspondent
IT is every person’s dream to strive to own the finer things in life, fancy cars, latest technological gadgets and of course a luxurious house in an affluent suburb.
However, a Zimbabwean man based in United Kingdom and has business interests in South Africa will rue the day he hired a private construction company to build him a house in Bulawayo’s Romney Park suburb.
After having invested a fortune in the construction of the house, Costa Nkala said his dreams have been shattered, as he claims the private construction company did a shoddy job.
Sunday Leisure visited the said house, which rather resembles a ram shack than a luxurious home.
The house has holes in the roof, cracked walls and leaking taps, which are all signs of the “shoddy” job done by the alleged construction company.
Nkala, whose house, which is somewhat of a relic, blamed the company for ruining his dreams. Nkala said when he arrived in Zimbabwe this festive season; he hoped to go to a comfortable home, which he had spent a fortune building. But alas it resembled a pigsty, as he said.
“Owning a house in a low density suburb has been my dream and still remains my dream because I don’t have a house. I had faith in my constructor but what transpired is very sad. If I compare my house with others in this neighborhood, I feel ashamed because mine is not a proper house to talk about. I was duped of well over $23 000,” he said.
Nkala said it was every Zimbabwean’s dream living abroad to invest in the country but such issues made that impossible to trust indigenous companies.
“My objective is to plough back my profit in Zimbabwe. There is no future overseas, my future is in this country and I wish to play my part in developing my country. At the moment, I want to venture into ostrich farming but I am thinking of not doing so because I might be duped again,” he said.
Nkala said he began constructing the house in 2003 when the country had not yet adopted the foreign currency system.
“I poured $23 000 in building this house. I started building the house in 2003 and I was paying in US dollars, despite the fact that the country had not adopted the multi-currency system. The entire roof is leaking and when I try to reason with the constructor he tells me that he is done,” he said.
His father has also been encouraging Nkala to invest back home and this was the first family house they were going own as a family, but their dreams have been shattered.
“It is very bad and painful to see our money going down the drain. I have been encouraging my son to invest back home and he listened to me. As the family, this was going to be our first place we call home. This is not even a proper house because it is just more like a pig pigsty,” said his father John Ncube.
G.G Construction director Dumisani Sandi said he was never paid any amount for the work done at the house.
“I can’t say anything about that and we did not even get paid for that job. I am sorry I cannot comment on that matter as of yet,” he said.
Online Reporter