Bulawayo City Council to auction properties

Bulawayo City Council said yesterday that it will auction about 500 derelict properties whose owners have, for the past five years, failed to pay rates.

The local authority's legal officer, Spekiwa Guta, said under the council by-laws, council can repossess and auction any property whose owner has failed to pay rates (derelict) for a period exceeding five years.

Guta revealed this during a 2015 budget consultative meeting with residents and the business community at the Small City Hall.

She said the council had identified about 1 000 such properties, some of them owned by prominent business people and powerful politicians, which had been abandoned and/or deserted.

Some of the properties are occupied by people that are not paying anything to council.