THE Bulawayo City Council is set to repossess more than 130 undeveloped housing stands in the high-density suburbs of Cowdray Park, Luveve and Pumula South.
Residents from the affected areas recently stormed council offices to complain about their stands which have not being serviced since 2016.
In a notice, Bulawayo town clerk Christopher Dube on Monday said the 133 stand owners should show cause why the local authority should not repossess the undeveloped stands.
“Beneficiaries of the Hlalani Kuhle/Garikai Housing Scheme, Luveve 4, Luveve 5 and Pumula South, who have failed to develop their stands within the minimum period of 24 months given from the date of sale, are required to call at Cowdray Park housing office for Cowdray Park stands, Pumula housing office for Pumula South stands and Luveve housing office for Luveve 4 and 5 stands to show cause why the City of Bulawayo cannot proceed and repossess the said stands as per council housing policy,” he said.
Dube gave the stand owners 30 days from the date of the notice to comply or the affected stands will be repossessed and re-allocated to other people on the council housing waiting list.
Last month some residents, who were allocated housing stands in Pumula South and Magwegwe West stormed council offices to inquire on why their stands which they acquired in 2016 had not been serviced and handed over to them.
Bulawayo mayor David Coltart told Southern Eye that he was making frantic efforts to resolve the issue.
“l have been engaged with the residents over the past two months. I promise to continue to do so till the matter gets resolved. We are negotiating with them so that we come up with an airtight solution. The problem is that the currency changed and that is when the challenge started,” he said.
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Meanwhile, the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) recently said the affected stand owners were contemplating taking legal action after the local authority demanded top-ups for the stands in foreign currency.
BPRA secretary for administration Thembelani Dube said council’s demands were a violation of agreements of sale.
It has also been established that the local authority is demanding as much as US$6 000 depending on the size of the stand in top-up and is threatening to repossess the land over failure to pay.
In December 2018, council approved the sale of housing stands in US dollars, a move widely rejected by residents.
Four years later, council said beneficiaries had to settle outstanding payments in US dollars.
