Stop repossessing stands: Chombo

More than 2 000 beneficiaries of the Government housing scheme have lost housing stands, amid revelations many stands now have multiple owners.
Scores of people have in the past few weeks been phoning or visiting Chronicle offices complaining about the issue.
They accused the Bulawayo Home Seekers’ Consortium Trust (BHSCT) officials of double-crossing them and appealed to the Government to intervene.
Speaking by telephone from Harare yesterday, the Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development, Dr Ignatius Chombo, said the repossession of stands should stop immediately.
Dr Chombo said Hlalani Kuhle Housing Project was a scheme for low-income earners in the country and the Government wanted the beneficiaries to have more time to develop the stands.
“It is too early to repossess the stands because those people were given eight years to develop. The Government agreed that they should be given more time because it is a scheme for very low-income people,” said Dr Chombo.
“They (BHSCT) should not do that, they should stop repossessing and those stands should be given back to the original beneficiaries.”
Dr Chombo said if there were many people on the waiting list, more land should be availed by the council than to repossess already allocated housing stands.
“The beneficiaries were given time to develop the stands over a number of years and they would buy them later. The Governor (Ambassador Cain Mathema for Bulawayo Metropolitan Province) is familiar with the requirements and is aware that we agreed that the beneficiaries should be given time to develop their stands,” said Dr Chombo.
Contacted for comment, Ambassador Mathema declined to comment, saying allegations of corruption in the project were untrue although he urged the affected to visit his office at Mhlahlandlela Government Complex.
Those affected implicated some officials (names supplied) who they alleged were clandestinely repossessing and selling the stands.
Most of the affected were those based outside the country, who would return home and find their stands occupied.
There is growing tension in Cowdray Park as the original beneficiaries and those who were allocated later have threatened to axe each other.
The Government allocated more than 7 000 housing stands to home seekers in Cowdray Park under the Hlalani Kuhle/Garikai meant for low-income earners.
There are 12 segments in the Cowdray Park project, with about 7 860 supposed beneficiaries.
Each beneficiary is supposed to make a once off payment of $150 for buying material and monthly subscription fees are pegged at five dollars per stand and paid to the consortium.
The order by the Government comes at a time when officials at the consortium had promised to go ahead with repossessing the stands that had not been developed for a period of two years.
Retired Colonel Thabani Khumalo, the chairman of the project, said they were repossessing stands whose owners were not contributing to the consortium.
He said those who were complaining were the ones who were not paying and alleged political interference.
“We cannot keep people who do not contribute. In fact, we have been protecting them for a long time and we cannot go for six years with undeveloped stands,” he said in an interview yesterday.
“We know these people are being mobilised by some people to destabilise the programme. Those with problems should report to the police so that the allegations are investigated. We are not going to stop as long as they do not pay.”
Asked to comment on the allegations that they were selling stands, Rtd Col Khumalo said: “There could be unscrupulous people who would approach those in need of stands and sell to them.”
Those who lost their stands were still being billed by the council because the stands are still in their names while the second beneficiaries were only paying to the consortium.
The residents accused the consortium of turning the housing scheme into a moneymaking project thereby creating unnecessary confusion.
They said the stands were being repossessed without notifying the owners.
Even the new beneficiaries are reportedly unsettled as the BCC is reportedly refusing to approve their plans on the grounds the housing stands bear names of the original beneficiaries.
A caller who refused to be named said there was a need for interrogation of the goings on in the project.
“After getting a stand, one has to get an agreement of sale form and sign with the BCC so that his or her name is recorded. The person then gets a plan approved, which then becomes the official document to be used until the house is finished and the names of the original beneficiaries are the ones that appear in the council records,” said the resident.
Another resident said he bought a stand for about $800 and paid an additional $425 to clear debts emanating from unpaid subscriptions.
The resident, who also refused to be named, said he now wanted his money back.
“I bought a stand but when I took my plan to the BCC it was not approved and I was told that only the original beneficiary is recognised. I bought the material but I cannot continue building because the plan was not approved,” said the resident.