adminCentral Government has over the years also complemented local authorities’ efforts to provide accommodation by coming up with housing schemes in different cities and towns. Most housing schemes in the different towns have in the past been funded by building societies but in some towns individual companies have built houses for their employees.
Housing co-operatives also account for a substantial number of houses in the different cities and towns.
The councils play a key role in housing development, be it by central Government, building societies, cooperatives, companies or individuals because it is councils that provide the land.
The councils can provide serviced land for housing development while in some cases the developers are allocated virgin land so that they can service the land and build the houses. Councils can also build own houses that can be sold to residents or can be rented out.
It is councils’ responsibility to ensure residents have accommodation and it is because of this obligation that councils compile housing waiting lists. Residents that do not have accommodation register with councils so that they can be considered for either allocation of houses or housing stands.
The councils are therefore expected to welcome with open hands partners in housing development because these partners lessen their burden to provide accommodation.
Bulawayo residents should therefore be very disappointed to learn that their council has rejected the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) housing project which was set to benefit nearly 900 families. According to a story we published yesterday, council invited NSSA into a partnership to develop 882 low income residential stands in Luveve 5 at a cost of about $2 million but the authority came with a counter proposal to service the stands and build at least 100 houses at a cost of $6,5 million. This counter proposal was unfortunately rejected by council.
The reasons advanced by councillors for rejecting the NSSA housing project were that in December 2010 council was forced to repossess 700 stands allocated to NSSA in Pumula South after the authority failed to develop them within the stipulated period and that under the project, council was going to play a marginal role.
Ward 10 councillor Prince Dube who was for the project had argued that Bulawayo residents who also contributed to NSSA funds were supposed to benefit from such schemes as the proposed housing project but he unfortunately could not convince his fellow councillors. The council later resolved not to allocate the stands to NSSA but sell the unserviced stands to individuals.
The reasons advanced by council for rejecting the NSSA housing project are not convincing at all. The fact that NSSA in the past failed to develop stands allocated to it cannot be used as the basis for rejecting the project. It is possible that NSSA failed to raise adequate resources to fund its housing project in 2010 given the fact that the country introduced multi currency in 2009 so not much had been collected in the form of workers’ contributions.
We wonder what prejudice council will suffer if it gives NSSA another chance to service and build houses for Bulawayo residents who, as rightly noted by Clr Dube, should benefit from NSSA schemes as many of them pay monthly contributions to the authority’s pension scheme.
The same councillors will cry foul if NSSA takes its project funds to another town and they will be the first to complain that the region is being marginalised. The council, as we have already stated, should be more than ready to work with partners that want to build houses in the city which is one of its core businesses.
Residents of Bulawayo should therefore take to task their councillors who are denying them an opportunity to own houses. It is possible that many other housing developers have been frustrated by council given the flimsy reasons council has given for rejecting the NSSA project.
We urge the council to serve the interests of residents and reconsider the NSSA project which in our view will go a long way in reducing the city’s housing backlog. Given the prevailing economic environment, low income earners cannot be expected to raise money to build their own houses so the proposal to sell unserviced stands direct to individuals will not benefit the targeted group.
We want to implore Bulawayo Mayor Clr Thaba Moyo and his councillors to always ensure that whatever decisions council takes, the residents’ interest come first.
Online Reporter