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Housing Office demanding that the city council give them title deeds to the houses they have lived in for the past 10 years.
The Millennium Housing Scheme was a joint venture between council and donors and sought to provide housing for low-income earners.
Beneficiaries, a majority of them who were drawn from Sidojiwe, said the council has not transferred ownership of the houses to them since 2002.
They also complained that their rental bills were too high.
The angry residents, who were wielding placards, marched from the suburb to Nketa Housing Office where they presented a petition.
The copies of the petition were addressed to the council’s directors and the Mayor Councillor Thaba Moyo.
Some of the placards were written, “Bulawayo City Council fleeces the needy; Give us title deeds; Rates are too high”.
In separate interviews the disgruntled residents said council was failing to stand up for the people and demanded that they be given title deeds.
“We have been patient enough, but council has failed us. We were resettled in Emganwini 10 years ago, but we still do not own the houses because council does not want to give us title deeds.
“As far as we are concerned the council can reclaim our houses anytime as we have nothing to prove that we own the houses”, said Mr Nqobani Ngwenya.
One of the residents’ leaders, who preferred anonymity, said their efforts to engage the council had proved fruitless. “We held a meeting with the Mayor, Clr Moyo about a month ago and he promised that he would facilitate a meeting between us and the directors of housing and of finance.
“He said he was going to contact us, but until now we have not heard from him. This demonstration is an attempt to get the immediate attention of council on the issue,” she said.
The residents said although they had paid deposits for the houses, council was not taking cognisance of that.
“Sesidiniwe thina ngomanisipala. We have waited too long for the title deeds and the council seems not to care about that. Our patience has run out. It is high time we legally own these houses,” said another resident.
“We are expected to pay $42 per month on top of rentals. Where do they expect us to get this amount? After all the houses were donated to the council so what money do we owe them and what is delaying them from giving us title deeds?”
Another resident, who only identified herself as MaKhuzwayo, bemoaned the fact that the rentals were very high, saying it did not make sense to them as the houses were paid for by donors.
“We are fighting against the council’s injustice. It seems we have a lot of problems these days. Firstly we go for 10 years without title deeds and now we have to pay exorbitant rates, which are unaccounted for as donors paid for the cost of the houses. We wonder what council is doing because it has failed us,” said MaKhuzwayo.
Contacted for comment the council’s public relations officer Miss Bongiwe Ngwenya demanded to have questions in writing and had not responded by yesterday evening.
Online Reporter