News / National
Tshinga Dube pleads with BCC over eviction
20 Jul 2019 at 14:32hrs | Views
FORMER Zanu-PF legislator Tshinga Dube has pleaded with the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) to spare him eviction from a parliamentary office in Makokoba constituency to pave way for the incumbent MDC legislator, James Sithole.
The offices are located in Nguboyenja high-density suburb.
It is understood that the local authority is yet to assent to Dube's request, with its housing director Dictor Khumalo saying: "If he wants to be spared, he can always approach us and we are willing to help him in that regard."
The BCC entered into a one-year long lease agreement on July 11, 2017 with Dube, who has remained at the offices despite his parliamentary term having ended after losing the Makokoba seat in the July 2018 elections to Sithole.
Dube now owes the local authority $1 705,47 in rent since July 11, 2017, according to the latest council minutes.
Council last week claimed it had sent several eviction notices to Dube, but the former War Veterans minister said he only learnt of the notice in the media. The top Zanu-PF official appealed to the city fathers to forgo their resolution to evict him.
"I am still using that office. Remember, I have a foundation that I run. I am also a patron of many organisations, including one of Zimbabwe's biggest football teams, Highlanders. I have been doing a lot of philanthropic work in Makokoba constituency, especially to the needy, among them the elderly and the vulnerable children," Dube said.
"I have been doing this for years and as I have said before, I can't abandon the vulnerable people because I am no longer their Member of Parliament. I promised to look after them, so I won't leave them. The long and short of it is I am using that office for that work," Dube said.
Dube was Makokoba legislator from 2015 until the 2018 elections which saw him losing to Sithole.
The offices are located in Nguboyenja high-density suburb.
It is understood that the local authority is yet to assent to Dube's request, with its housing director Dictor Khumalo saying: "If he wants to be spared, he can always approach us and we are willing to help him in that regard."
The BCC entered into a one-year long lease agreement on July 11, 2017 with Dube, who has remained at the offices despite his parliamentary term having ended after losing the Makokoba seat in the July 2018 elections to Sithole.
Council last week claimed it had sent several eviction notices to Dube, but the former War Veterans minister said he only learnt of the notice in the media. The top Zanu-PF official appealed to the city fathers to forgo their resolution to evict him.
"I am still using that office. Remember, I have a foundation that I run. I am also a patron of many organisations, including one of Zimbabwe's biggest football teams, Highlanders. I have been doing a lot of philanthropic work in Makokoba constituency, especially to the needy, among them the elderly and the vulnerable children," Dube said.
"I have been doing this for years and as I have said before, I can't abandon the vulnerable people because I am no longer their Member of Parliament. I promised to look after them, so I won't leave them. The long and short of it is I am using that office for that work," Dube said.
Dube was Makokoba legislator from 2015 until the 2018 elections which saw him losing to Sithole.
Source - newsday
