Town house stand for Bulawayo Town Clerk

BULAWAYO Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube has been awarded a 2.4 hectare town house stand in the city as part of his conditions of service.

Last year, the Local Government Board endorsed the Bulawayo City Council's decision to renew Mr Dube's contract by a further four years. This was after, the local authority in 2020 resolved to extend Mr Dube's contract until September 2024. His initial contract was expected to end in September 2020.

According to a council confidential report, the local authority has further approved that the Town Clerk purchases a Town House stand in Selbourne Park outside the normal procedures meant to be followed when awarding Town House stands.

Council procedures state that Town House stands should go to tender when being sold. The offer to Mr Dube was reportedly part of negotiations for his contract renewal.

"Please be advised that council on 1 June 2022 deliberated on the matter and resolved that the Town Clerk be offered a Town House stand number 14661 Selbourne Park (2.4407 hectares) for which he shall pay the full price. That the tender system normally used for selling Town House stands be waivered since the offer to the Town Clerk was a result of negotiations for his conditions of employment following the renewal of his contract in October 2020, the land will be sold in terms of Section 152 of the Urban Councils Act," reads the report.

According to the report, the purchase price for the stand has been pegged at US$292 844 plus an additional US$42 468 in Value Added Tax.

"The resolution could not be immediately implemented as the purchase price of the stand was not included for deliberation and resolution. In view of the foregoing, the recommended selling price for the Town House had since been included for deliberation and resolution, hence this report.  

"The stand which was a Town House site 2.4407 hectares in extent was US$292 844 excluding Value Added Tax. An additional sum of US$42 468 shall be payable being the 14.5 percent VAT," reads the report.

The bid to renew Mr Dube's contract was engulfed in controversy with the then MDC-Alliance attempting to block its councillors from endorsing the move. This saw some councillors including the Mayor, Councillor Solomon Mguni being barred from the party's provincial offices and ordered to reverse the decision if they were to be allowed back into the offices.

In 2015, former Bulawayo Deputy Mayor and Njube Lobengula legislator, Gift Banda purchased a piece of land, measuring 3.5 hectares for US$130 000 with the intention of constructing town houses for middle-and high-income earners. The land is a portion of Ascot Race Course, five kilometres east of the city centre.