BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) has been exposed after it emerged that a full council meeting resolved to award a 25 year old lease of a 3,5 hectare farm for a monthly charge of ZWL165 to Bulawayo mayor Solomon Madlala Mguni, Zim Morning Post has learnt.
The resolution was made on March 24 and is subject to review after such period.
This development exposes the rot within the BCC where councillors agreed on such an irrational figure which is a large contrast with the current market prices.
It was also not made clear whether the lease was part of his benefits or he competed with other residents to land such an offer.
“Surely look at the current cost of living and compare it with the price of the rent in relation to that vast tract of land.
“We need to probe how and why did they reach that figure when renting a house in the high density suburb of Makokoba can cost more,” said an irate resident.
The same city fathers have been implicated in land scams with the former deputy mayor Gift Banda having been arraigned before the courts to answer to charges of similar nature.
He was accused of fraudulently processing a lease agreement for a piece of land under the name of an unregistered company owned by his daughter, Samantha.
The Njube-Lobengula MP acquired a stand measuring 3, 82 hectares on behalf of Entertainment Headquarters, a company reportedly owned by Samantha and another shareholder only identified in court papers as Simon Mambaza in 2015.
This abuse of office has put urban councils under scrutiny as cases of illegal dolling out of land are on the increase.
The same council’s former human resources officer Maxwell Sibanda also allegedly forged documents and fraudulently parcelled out stands on council land to several residents and was charged with fraud and contravening a section of the Regional, Town and Country Planning Act.
