Council sued by thirteen home seekers

Norton Town Council has been sued by thirteen home seekers over residential stands they acquired through a former employee between 2011 and April last year on separate occasions.

The 13 purchased the stands through  one  Obert Masunga who was employed as an administration officer after paying various amounts ranging from US$1 500 to US$3 000 to the town council.

The matter is before the High Court and the 13 are being represented by Ms Rumbidzai Gasa of Gasa Nyamadzawo and Associates.

The town council is cited as the first defendant and Masunga as the second.

It is alleged that the 13 went to the council offices on separate occasions and were taken through the normal procedures to purchase high density stands with the assistance of Masunga.

"After payment of purchase price ranging from US$1 500 to US$3 000, depending on the size of the stand purchased, the plaintiffs received correspondence from the first defendant advising them that their applications were successful and that they would be allocated their stands on specified dates," read the plaintiffs' declaration.

Norton Town Council later issued letters advising that the allocation of stands had been postponed.

When the plaintiffs became impatient they approached the officials for clarification.

Masunga, it is alleged, was ordered to resign with exit packages to evade the matter in April last year.

The complainants said despite several verbal and written demands, the town council is refusing to either allocate them stands or repay them US$5 000, which is the current market price.

In a letter dated December 17, 2013, Norton Town Council chief executive officer Mr Winslow Namburo Muyambi said they had no records of these people purchasing stands at their offices and advised Ms Gasa to provide them with copies of the documents for her clients so that they could investigate the matter further.

"While we appreciate that desperate home seekers may have lost their hard-earned money there is no way council can respond to the claims without sufficient evidence to show that the council was at fault," he said.