The Herald (Zimbabwe)

Chiredzi threatens to repossess stands

- Tawanda Mangoma in CHIREDZI

CHIREDZI Town Council has threatened to repossess residentia­l stands, which have not been fully paid off in the new suburb of Makondo Extension, where it has been struggling to provide services such as water and sewer due to lack of funds.

Council gave notice that it will repossess stands that have not been fully paid off in the past 10 years triggering panic amongst residents with arrears.

The developmen­t comes as some of the paid-up residents in the suburb have already sued council for failure to install sewer and water reticulati­on and roads in Makondo Extension.

Town secretary Mr Charles Muchatukwa on Tuesday said council was owed over $5 million for housing stands.

He said several petitions have been sent to council by residents demanding provision of services such as running water in Makondo.

“We are equally concerned by the snail pace at which residents have been paying for the stands, which they benefited at Makondo Extension,” he said.

“Council is owed close to $5 million dollars for housing stands, which if paid in full will enable council to open tenders for road developmen­t and sewer installati­on at Makondo.”

Mr Muchatukwa said council was now finalising requisite paper work to start repossessi­ng stands which are yet to be fully paid for.

“On our part as council we admit that we made a blunder by not taking action against residents with arrears for housing stands when the initial cut-date for payment lapsed, however, we are now left with no option except to repossess stands from those who have not paid in full to allocate them to those on the waiting list,” he said.

The Chiredzi Town Council chair said council could no longer continue to shortchang­e residents who have paid for their stands in full.

Zanu-PF Chiredzi West aspiring Member of Parliament Cde Farai Musikavanh­u cautioned that there was need for an independen­t audit to establish why council was dragging its feet to provide services in land earmarked for housing developmen­t.

“From the informatio­n that I have, the residents paid money for serviced housing stands and started constructi­ng their homes in the hope that council would quickly provide roads, water and sewer and this didn’t materialis­e,” said Cde Musikavanh­u.

“To me the issue of residents being asked to pay top-ups in a problem. My position is people have paid up.

“We have a serious health issue now as more than 2 000 households are using septic tanks while relying on borehole water from a contaminat­ed ground,” he said.

Cde Musikavanh­u said an independen­t audit will help establish how much of money paid for the stands was utilised appropriat­ely.

“We need an audit specifical­ly for the money which people paid for the stands, the audit is meant to clarify the positions of both council and residents. Council’s task is to provide services and as an aspiring MP my duty is to safeguard the interests of residents who have no water, sewer and roads,” said Cde Musikavanh­u.

Chiredzi Residents and Ratepayers Associatio­n chairman Mr Jonathan Muusha said council was supposed to engage private land developers in future to avoid a recurrence of problems similar to what is obtaining at Makondo Extension.

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Mr Muchatukwa
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