Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube, leonard,[email protected]
VICTORIA Falls City Council has suspended the sale of unserviced housing stands to residents which had been set for this week citing a busy schedule in the city which is hosting Transform Africa Summit.
The local authority early this month advertised that it had 405 high and medium density stands to allocate to home-seekers who should be on the waiting list and are up to date with their payments.
Beneficiaries were expected to pay US$3 000 and US$5 000 deposit for high density and medium density stands respectively with the remaining balance payable over a period of 18 months.
Vetting was supposed to start yesterday until Friday at council offices.
Home-seekers, however, expressed concern saying the amount places the stands out of reach for ordinary residents and also petitioned council to stop the process until the land is serviced.
Residents have also written letters to support the petition, urging council to stop the sale of the stands because they are expensive especially to youths and vulnerable groups.
They also allege there is lack of transparency in council and that an audit should be done on the housing waiting list, which stands at about 18 000, against the city’s entire population of less than 40 000.
The council announced over the weekend that it had suspended the sale of the stands.
“Victoria Falls City Council hereby notify the public that due to unforeseen circumstances the sale of high and medium density Kazungula residential scheme has been postponed. Council will advise the public on the new dates of vetting and sale. Any inconvenience is sincerely regretted,” said Town Clerk Mr Ronnie Dube in a statement.
In an interview yesterday, Mr Dube said circumstances beyond the local authority’s control had led to suspension of allocation of stands.
“We have suspended allocation of stands until sometime mid-May and the main reason are the unforeseen circumstances where the city got busy as the President will be here with more than 3 000 delegates for the Transform Africa Summit while there is also the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo.
“We realised that most executives will be out and people generally are busy during this period yet they want to participate in the process and we are going to issue another notice,” he said.
Mr Dube said the petition by residents will be attended to by council.
He implored residents to understand that servicing is not done by council but by contractors.
A resident leader Mrs Sifiso Sibanda who was part of a group that spearheaded the petition said residents were not against the sale of stands but want transparency.
They also want the land to be serviced prior to allocation.
“We are not saying we don’t want council to sell stands but our problem is the way they are doing it and the corruption within council hence we ask ourselves where all this money will go.
“We want the council to do the right thing and service the land before allocating stands. Council could have done themselves better by consulting residents who are willing to have cleared the land in preparation for servicing. So we are waiting for them to update us after they suspended the process,” she said.
Victoria Falls Combined Residents Association chairperson Mr Kelvin Moyo said residents’ concerns were genuine because people were still recovering from the impact of Covid-19.
He implored the council to adhere to Government demand for housing land not to be allocated before servicing
Zanu-PF Secretary for Youth in Hwange District Coordinating Committee Cde Veronica Maligo said youths were not happy and preparing objection letters to be submitted to council.
“Residents have complained about the price of stands, lack of transparency and that youths seem not to be considered because of the exorbitant prices.
“So residents want an audit of the waiting list and for the council to suspend the sal of stands before servicing because of what happened with Mkhosana BD46 where some houses have gone for 20 years without sewer. The same applies to Wood Road where no progress has been made pertaining to servicing. So residents are preparing objection letters calling on council to stop the process and we will submit these to the council,” she said. -@ncubeleon
Online Reporter