Council to repossess commercial stands
THE Bulawayo City Council will repossess 12 commercial stands after owners failed to build structures within the stipulated 24 months after allocation as per council’s by-laws.
The move comes barely a few months after the council also swooped on residential stands owners where they repossessed more than 150 low and medium density stands in the city who had also failed to develop.
However, the move by the local authority is a further violation of a Government directive that ordered councils to stop reclaiming stands citing the harsh economic climate. In a directive sent to all local authorities, the Government had indicated that it had banned all stand or land repossessions.
“Councils should exercise flexibility on conditions of leases, payments and land development duration. This, in essence, implies that all land repossessions should cease forthwith. Land that was repossessed and not yet re-allocated but not yet developed should immediately be returned to original owners. As for leases whose land was repossessed and re-allocated to other people under circumstances of failure to raise enough money, or failure to develop the land within the periods spelt out in their leases, these have to be granted first preference on new land allocation. Same shall apply to those leasing council properties such as houses, kiosks, market stalls,” read the circular from the Government.
However, despite the directive, the Bulawayo City Council said it would go ahead with the repossessions. BBC argued that despite numerous interjections for the owners to commence development work, they had failed to comply with the council’s building by-laws, with no response being received from the non-compliance notices sent.
“These properties should be repossessed because the department exercised due diligence concerning the matter, unscrupulous individuals were now conning unsuspecting members of the public due to long periods of non-development and the stands had been undeveloped for over 20 years,” reads the report.
In the list five are located in Nkulumane 10 and 11 all of which were issued on 16 November 1994 (stand numbers; 13688, 13687, 13691, 13681 and 16545), one is in Old Magwegwe (stand number 5852), also issued on 16 November 1994 and one is in Emakhandeni (stand number 3256), issued on 6 April 1994.
The other stands are in Tshabalala Extension (stand numbers; 65380, 65381 and 65385) which were issued on 6 April 1994, while one stand in Nkulumane 3 (stand number 7642) has gone for 24 years without any development taking place as it was awarded on 15 April 1992.
Last year the local authority repossessed 150 stands in Mahatshula and Selbourne Park after the owners failed to develop them over the stipulated period.
The local authority had initially listed more than 500 properties for repossession, inclusive of properties owned by known individuals which include Macro-Economic Planning and Investment Promotion Minister, Dr Obert Mpofu, MDC leader Professor Welshman Ncube and former Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono, among a host of top politicians and prominent people with land lying idle for years in the city.
The council has in the past expressed concern over the high number of residential and commercial stands that have remained under-developed for several years.
Some land owners have attributed failure to develop their stands to the challenging economic situation.
According to council regulations, if an owner fails to develop a stand for two years, the local authority can repossess it without paying any compensation. The city’s housing waiting list presently stands at more than 100 000, as both council and private land developers are failing to cope with the high demand of home seekers.