Hundreds of teachers swindled

Chronicle Reporter
HUNDREDS of teachers in Filabusi, Insiza District fear they could have been swindled of their money after a land developer allegedly made them fill in forms with salary stop order details to acquire housing stands and disappeared. Officials from Evershine Land Developers Trust reportedly spent three days in Filabusi hunting for desperate home seekers, with more than 100 teachers submitting their employment codes (EC) for the housing scheme.

Some of the affected teachers are from Mehlo, Alpha and Phaphama Primary Schools.
One of the teachers said they became suspicious after officials from the company “disappeared”.

“The three officials came to Filabusi on Tuesday and visited many schools where they introduced their housing scheme and many teachers filled in the provided forms, including stop order forms.

“They told us that the housing scheme was a nationwide Government facility meant to provide accommodation for civil servants. They, however, told us not to fill in the amount of money to be deducted from our salaries,” said the teacher. “After consultations with the rural district council, we realised that the land developer could be bogus. We phoned and asked them to return the forms but they refused.

“After sometime they switched off their phones and we did not know what to do. One of the phone numbers that they provided was answered by a Zesa employee who expressed ignorance about the issue.”

Another teacher expressed concern, saying she feared that the land developer was out to make money from of their hard-earned cash.
“I was shocked when those people refused to bring back the forms when we told them that we were no longer interested in the scheme.

They made us fill in stop order forms and told us not to write the amounts of money to be deducted.
“They left business cards but all the numbers are not getting through. I suspect that these people are not genuine and they are targeting

Government workers in the rural areas to fraudulently take our money,” said the teacher.
Chronicle, however, managed to speak to Mr Calisto Mazhetese, an official from the company, who confirmed the company’s existence.

He said it was too late to return the forms as they had already been sent to Salary Services Bureau (SSB).
“We are a land developer and our schemes target home seekers who work in the rural areas. It is true that our marketing officers were in Matabeleland South this week and we explained to our new clients how our systems work.

“We give stands to people who pay half the amount of the stand at once. Those who cannot afford will pay $40 or $50 per month for three years depending on the size of the stand. We then surrender the stands after they have finished paying,” said Mr Mazhetese.

“We did not receive any communication from our new clients in Filabusi but it is unfortunate that the decision cannot be reversed because we have already sent the forms to the SSB and we will soon start deducting money for their stands.

“I understand their fears but we are not a bogus land developer.”