Chronicle Editor
Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
NEARLY 200 families in Gweru’s Mtapa suburb have been waiting for almost 30 years to be granted home ownership by the Gweru City Council to enable them to improve their houses.
Mtapa is the city’s oldest suburb just like Mbare in Harare and Makokoba in Bulawayo.
The families that are yet to be granted home ownership are in Mtapa’s sections 3 and 7.
A resident, Mr Jones Sani said it was high time that they were granted home ownership to enable them to improve their dwellings.
He said the residents had for years been engaging council on the issue as residents in other sections of the suburb were granted home ownership long back and many of them had since improved their houses.
“I have lived in Mtapa for 50 years now. Home ownership means owning our own houses as opposed to being council tenants whereby families share facilities such as toilets and bathrooms,” said Mr Sani.
He said communal toilets and bathrooms were phased out long back in other cities and towns including in some sections of Mtapa.
Mr Sani said he has to jostle with youngmen to bath or use a toilet which is a very big inconvenience especially for the elderly like him.
Mrs Gladys Moyo said it had taken too long for council to address the issue which she said has been outstanding for years.
“We are living like squatters sharing toilets and bathrooms as families which makes it difficult to maintain high levels of hygiene thereby exposing us to diseases,” she said.
Mrs Moyo said the living conditions in the suburb promoted anti-social behaviour leading to increased cases of child pregnancies, drug abuse and other social ills.
“These crowded and squalid living conditions make it difficult for parents to monitor their children.We therefore appeal to council to urgently address this issue so that we live as families and not groups as is the case now,” she said.
Gweru United Progressive Residents and Ratepayers Association director Pastor David Chikore said council should not put conditions on the struggling families to grant them home ownership because they have been paying rentals to council for many years despite the poor facilities.
“While we agree with council that there is a need to encourage residents in Mtapa section 3 and 7 to clear their bills in readiness for the issuance of the home ownership documents, we feel it would be discriminatory for council to withhold issuing of the same documents to qualifying residents simply because they are in arrears. Council extended an invitation to all Gweru residents to make payment plans and thse residents should also be allowed to come up with payment plans so that they are not disadvantaged, ” he said.
Pastor Chikore said families were crowded in very small rooms and once granted home ownership, individual families can improve the houses.
“These families are sharing dilapidated latrines and keeping them clean is therefore a big challenge,” he said.
Pastor Chikore said council promised to grant the affected families the home ownership more than 30 years ago and they were still waiting.
In January 2019 the Mayor Councillor Josiah Makombe promised to urgently address the issue but nothing has materialised up to now.
When asked recently Cllr Makombe said the home ownership programme for section 3 and 7 will come to fruition very soon.
“The process has started. They settle bills and they get the home ownership certificates,” he said.
Council spokesperson Ms Vimbai Chingwaramusee said the delay in granting home ownership was because council has been looking for suitable land for those who will be displaced by the granting of home ownership.
“Yes, council is very sincere about granting home ownership to these families but some of the families will be moved so that each family can have a single unit as opposed to families sharing as is the case now,” she said.
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