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Members who visited Chronicle offices last week said the executive last called a meeting nearly three years ago and they were now not sure whether their houses would be completed.
Some of the members who were phoned on their mobile phones confirmed they have not held a meeting for a long time.
The Hlalo Housing Co-operative was launched in 2002 at a plot belonging to Senator Matson Hlalo, who is the project’s patron.
It has about 226 members who contribute $50 every month.
Some of the members alleged the executive committee running the project was avoiding them.
They said they suspected the monthly subscriptions were being abused and called for a meeting to be updated.
While members feel that they are being shortchanged, officials from the Hlalo Housing Cooperative said the project was now beginning to take shape after a “tumultuous” period when “there was no money”.
The officials said about half of the members were in arrears of up to five months as they were not paying subscriptions, making it difficult for the co-operative to construct the houses.
The worried members said they did not know what was happening yet they continued to pay subscription fees.
“My stand is at box level. I went to the offices last month to inquire after seeing that there were no meetings and I do not know what has happened until today. We are paying subscriptions but we do not even know how it is being used. If it continues like this we will stop paying until there is clarity in the project,” said a member.
Another member said: “Since I became a member there has never been a meeting. We cannot say there is no development at all because they have started building some of the houses.”
Some of the members alleged victimisation by the co-operative officials and said they were afraid of going to the offices for fear of having their membership revoked.
Vice-chairman of the cooperative, a Mr Maseko could neither confirm nor deny the allegations but said those who were complaining should know the state of progress if they were genuine members.
“I cannot give details about the history of the co-operative because I have to inform the patron first. But, if those people were genuine members they should know that since we started, we had problems for five years and it was in 2010 when we started getting money after the introduction of multi-currency system that things started shaping up,” said Mr Maseko.
He said they started building this year but had challenges with funds, as the $50 was not enough while the majority were not even paying.
A visit to the site showed that only one model house has been completed and a member of the co-operative executive, Mr Steven Mpofu, lives there with his family.
Another house has been roofed but still uncompleted with the other at roof level. About six other houses have been built to window level, while a number of them either have slabs or the foundation has been dug.
The bigger part of the site of the housing stands is still not cleared with bushes around. There were about five men at one of the stands who said they were builders and were waiting for cement to continue with the construction work.
Contacted for comment Sen Hlalo, who represents Mzilikazi in Parliament, said he was not aware that meetings were not being held.
He said the project was taking long because of financial problems and the need to connect water pipes and sewer.
“I am not aware of such a thing but if they are genuine members they should have approached me as the patron instead of going to the Press. The houses are being built according to the money the co-operative is collecting.
“We are waiting for sewer and water connection because our agreement was that we connect these before building the houses. I offered 226 stands on condition the co-operative should get people to connect sewer and water. Council should do this but because of the financial constraints the co-operative has to do it,” said Mr Hlalo.
He advised members against panicking, saying they would all get the houses.
“We have since engaged the Ministry of Housing and Social Amenities and the co-operative has sent documents. People should understand this is not a simple matter,” said Mr Hlalo.
Online Reporter