Man loses stand in unclear circumstances

Latwell Nyangu
A CHITUNGWIZA man lost his residential stand to another resident under unclear circumstances.

Hadley Mulemba, who purchased Stand No.  14254 in Nyatsime Phase 3 around 2007, found out that the stand was now occupied by one Philip Tugwete.

Despite having proof of payment, he found that the council had allocated the same stand to Tugwete.

Mulemba has made several attempts, to seek clarity on the matter, since Tugwete is also claiming to have bought the same stand from the same council.

He reported the matter under RRB 5147927 and investigations are ongoing. Mulemba said he has approached several offices for help but to no avail.

“The Housing Department is saying they did not change anything or repossess the stand. This was done by someone in IT and Revenue.

“Lovemore Meya (council spokesperson) actually went to the stand with my mum, when another name appeared, and there was no building and we made a report.

“He ended up sending an e-mail to the director. I bought the stand in Chitungwiza in 2007 and when I went to my stand, a house had been built.  When I approached Chitungwiza Council, no one wanted to help me and my name had been changed in their system.

“In the Housing Department archives, everything is in my name. I have made a police report. I reported this before a structure was put on my stand and no one helped me.

“I went to the public relations office where I met Meya several times last year when the issue of the name change came to light when I wanted to pay rates. Meya also visited the site with my mother since I stay outside the country.

“Later, Meya gave me an email of the housing director who never responded to me.”

Meya could not give clarity on who was the rightful owner of the property.

“This stand is under the joint committee, which was officially promulgated sometime last year by the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, which is being looked into by the Chitungwiza Municipality and Manyame Rural District Council.

“So, for issues regarding Nyatsime, it’s unfortunate that, as Chitungwiza alone, we are not entertaining them.

“Rather those affected are encouraged to approach the joint committee, which as of now is not yet fully operating.

“We have representatives from both local authorities convening meetings only to see if the Joint Committee comes into fruition,” said Meya.