CCC promises stands

CCC councillors and previous opposition parties that controlled urban councils have been grossly abusing stand allocations on council land, allowing themselves, other party officials and girlfriends of party top brass to jump queues and buy the stands for a song, some former opposition top councillors have revealed.

Former MDC Marondera mayor Mr Farai Nyandoro, a man who was at some point used by the opposition to sell land to desperate home-seekers, as well as girlfriends of the opposition top brass, said: "The CCC councillors are abusing the allocation of residential stands and using them as a campaigning gimmick in urban areas.

"We are saying enough is enough. I am speaking from an informed position. We used to abuse the allocation of stands as a strategy to win votes from the urbanites. We used to promise people, especially in urban areas that if they voted the opposition, they would get stands but that has not really happened as only a few people benefit."

Mr Nyandoro is now the chairperson of Home Seekers4ED, a group that is helping Zimbabweans find decent accommodation.

The lobby group is chaired by former MDC deputy mayor for Harare Emmanuel Chiroto.

Desperate home-seekers have always complained that they are not being allocated the stands because people with money have been bribing corrupt officials and councillors to secure stands ahead of them.

"The result has been that the poor people have been paying money for renewals (on the waiting list) without receiving any joy. To make matters worse, the renewals are now being done twice a year," said Mr Nyandoro.In some instances, the process for one to acquire a stand in Harare has been raising eyebrows over the years, with the local authority issuing offer letters without stamps, making it easy for officials to duplicate the document leading to double allocations.

"The councils do not use a waiting list to allocate stands in urban centres across the country, but they form housing cooperatives in undesignated areas for desperate home-seekers and formalise its existence, with only a handful benefiting, while the rest will be sold," said Mr Nyandoro.

Most of the stands in leafy suburbs, he said, were allocated through corrupt means at give-away prices mainly to girlfriends and party bigwigs.

The lobby group is also appealing to the central Government to take over the allocation of stands in urban areas to ensure every Zimbabwean has access to a residential stand.

"Since the Government is working on rehabilitation of roads in urban centres, the same route should be taken in the allocation of stands in urban centres," said Mr Nyandoro.

"Allocation of stands should be done by the central Government to ensure transparency and accountability.

"We expect the Government to set up an inter-ministerial task force to take over and allocate stands to the people."

As Home Seekers forED, Mr Nyandoro said they were mobilising youth, and women to ensure they had access to residential stands.

He said in Harare, CCC councillors use their positions to allocate stands to their lovers and relatives, at the expense of those on the housing waiting list.