News / Local
Byo council locks out 20 families over unpaid rentals
19 Jan 2012 at 09:08hrs | Views
THERE was pandemonium at Bulawayo's Jabulani Flats yesterday when council workers armed with crowbars, hammers and metal pins, descended on 20 families and locked them out of their apartments over unpaid rentals.
The flats are situated between 6th and 8th avenues along Basch Street. They are owned by the Bulawayo City Council and rentals are $149 per month.
Workers from the department of housing and community services from the Mzilikazi office forcibly opened the apartments, removed locks and replaced them with new ones.
They went on to hammer in metal pins on the doors to prevent residents from opening the doors after they had left.
When a Chronicle newscrew visited the flats, tenants were standing outside with sombre faces.
They said what the council had done had left them in a state of shock and disbelief.
A 94-year-old woman who had been living at the flats since 1964 was also one of the affected.
She had to be taken to her son's residence somewhere in the city by her daughters.
The son of the geriatric said he was pained by the fact that the council workers were so inconsiderate that his mother was old and had nowhere else to go.
"Our family has been paying rent for the past 48 years. Why has council not converted ownership of the houses to us? What we want is home ownership, period," he said.
Another tenant said they had made a payment plan so that they could offset the debt that they owed the local authority.
Relating the ordeal another resident said council workers were very rude and were overheard saying the tenants should be evicted so that their colleagues could be accommodated in the flats.
Later on the councillor for Ward One, Clr Edward Manning, addressed the tenants and said the council would open the apartments for them as soon as possible.
By the end of the day the council had allowed them back.
The flats are situated between 6th and 8th avenues along Basch Street. They are owned by the Bulawayo City Council and rentals are $149 per month.
Workers from the department of housing and community services from the Mzilikazi office forcibly opened the apartments, removed locks and replaced them with new ones.
They went on to hammer in metal pins on the doors to prevent residents from opening the doors after they had left.
When a Chronicle newscrew visited the flats, tenants were standing outside with sombre faces.
They said what the council had done had left them in a state of shock and disbelief.
A 94-year-old woman who had been living at the flats since 1964 was also one of the affected.
The son of the geriatric said he was pained by the fact that the council workers were so inconsiderate that his mother was old and had nowhere else to go.
"Our family has been paying rent for the past 48 years. Why has council not converted ownership of the houses to us? What we want is home ownership, period," he said.
Another tenant said they had made a payment plan so that they could offset the debt that they owed the local authority.
Relating the ordeal another resident said council workers were very rude and were overheard saying the tenants should be evicted so that their colleagues could be accommodated in the flats.
Later on the councillor for Ward One, Clr Edward Manning, addressed the tenants and said the council would open the apartments for them as soon as possible.
By the end of the day the council had allowed them back.
Source - tc
