BEERHALL TO BE TURNED INTO HOSPITAL :
CHITUNGWIZA Municipality is mulling turning one of its dysfunctional beer halls into an infectious diseases hospital to ease challenges being faced by tuberculosis patients, it has been learnt.
Chairperson of the caretaker commission running the affairs of the local authority Mr Madzudzo Pawadyira said this recently during a meeting on education, housing and community services.
“We have our beer halls, these are a colonial relic from the past,” he said. “Recently, you were discussing with some of our former employees who opted to run some of these with arrangements which were made and that matter is still ongoing.
“There are three other bars which are lying fallow out there for which you want to establish something because at the moment you do not have any land for building anything. Land is not elastic and we have exhausted all the land in Chitungwiza. We want all land to be reserved for low cost-high rise buildings.
“We then expect you to advertise that intention so that we attract the right kind of people, you have a town clerk (Mrs Charity Maunga) who happens to be a good lawyer who will assist you in crafting whatever is needed.
“We do not need to lose sight of the fact that we also have something in the process in the form of the land itself where there are these bars.”
Mr Pawadyira said the tendency had been that people take over the bars and do whatever business pleased them.
“Let us use the advantage of these pieces of land as our own bargaining chip if you like,” he said. “But let us go out now so that we can be heard by possible developers. You can sit down with them and map the way forward.”
Mr Pawadyira urged council management to use any available land as profitably as possible.
“If you can get rid of any current occupants, put the property as a hospital or alternatively out of the three bars, one can be a hospital,” he said.
Mrs Maunga said: “We will do an assessment through the relevant department.”