- Council to formalise illegal structures
- Officials now allegedly forging offer letters for home seekers
- Housing committee appointed to deal with leases for stands
CHITUNGWIZA Town Council (CTC) on Monday revealed that all illegal structures will now be regularised.
There are reports that CTC has lost millions of dollars due to illegal settlements in the area, while it stood to reap dividends had the settlements been regularised.
“The issue of regularisation was stopped, yet it is the area where council could realise enough money, ” John Matiyenga, a councillor in Chitungwiza, said.
According to onr6 councillor Jenje, council workers should be stopped from illegally allocating, including forging offer letters for homeseekers.
Njenje added that all leases from 2019, that had not been approved, should be put on hold.
“Leases pending from last year should not be signed since some leases are for houses built on sewer pipes and electricity cables, which is illegal,” Jenje noted.
“There are some people here forging offer letters for homeseekers,” he added.
In a statement, one Councillor Nyagodo noted that houses built on sewer pipes and electricity cables would not be registered by the council.
“As much as we want to benefit as council from residents paying bills, we will not regularise properties constructed on sewer pipes, as it is unacceptable.
“Those structures should rather be demolished,” Nyagodo said.
Meanwhile, Councillor Matiringe noted that some houses were not receiving due service from council as they were not registered with the municipality, particularly Zengeza 4 new stands opposite CTC head offices.
The councillor further noted that regularising illegal structures would ensure that residents in unregularised areas also received council services.
According to council sources, formalising stands would give legitimacy to illegal properties that had sprouted around the town.
Certificates of ownership would allow residents to acquire title deeds for their properties.
Matiringe said of the 90 000 houses in Chitungwiza, only half of them pay for service delivery.
Initially, the council had budgeted $600.00 for regularisation per stand.