Council fails to deliver Pumula South stands

NEARLY 200 home seekers who paid deposits for residential stands promised by the Bulawayo City Council in Pumula suburb, only for the local authority to fail to meet its side of the bargain, are set to meet today to map the way forward.

A total of 191 residents paid for the stands that had been promised by council in 2018. The promised stands ranged from 200 square meters to 600 square metres in size.

A meeting is set to be held today at Pumula Hall starting from 2PM to map the way forward. Covid-19 protocols will be observed and the first 50 people to arrive at the venue will attend the meeting.

In an, one of the residents who paid a deposit for a stand, Mr Jeremiah Takavarasha said council promised to allocate them the stands after they paid a deposit of US$250.

"The city council had promised us that after paying a deposit of US$250, 30percent of the balance was to be paid within a period of six months while the rest within 18 months.

"Most people paid within that period because it was the passport to get the stand. Only a few did not pay after seeing that the council had not fulfilled its promise," said Mr Takavarasha. "Sometime in August 2019 council approached us as beneficiaries and informed us about the economic hardships they were facing and asked us how best we could assist them."

He said unfortunately nothing tangible came out of that meeting and several attempts to meet local authority's representatives were unsuccessful but council has since agreed to meet them today.

"After that meeting in 2019, our plan to hold a meeting and discuss the way forward became successful last Friday.

"That meeting is the one that has prompted us to meet as beneficiaries tomorrow (today).

"The agenda for tomorrow's meeting is basically feedback and hopefully the way forward," said Mr Takavarasha.
Council yesterday referred questions to Mr Takavarasha.