Chombo to investigate stand grabs

Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development, Ignatius Chombo, said he had already instructed his Permanent Secretary to liaise with the council officials to try and get to the bottom of the whole issue.

The councillors awarded themselves 40 percent discounts on the purchase of both commercial and residential stands anywhere within the city.

Chombo said it was wrong for the councillors to claim that the scheme was a government policy, which had been given the green light by his Ministry.

What I should clearly spell out is that technically there is no such policy it is just a mere concession whereby we will be awarding the councillors only after they complete their terms of office and this is through a discount on the purchase of a residential stand only within their ward.

Now, what the councillors are doing is fairly an abuse of power, to this effect I have already instructed my permanent secretary to investigate the issue and bring the wrong doers to book immediately, said Chombo.

He said the housing scheme was strictly a form of gratitude, with the amount of reduction meant to be approved by his office.

What should be noted is we cannot just offer 40 percent discounts to every property because at times property values differ so that is why these councils should come through my office so we can determine the value and amount of discounts, to date we havent received anything from Bulawayo thus it is clear that they are trying to be mischievous, he said.

Chombo also castigated the councillors for targeting commercial stands.

This is an unfortunate case of greed on behalf of the councillors and as the parent Ministry we will surely deal with the issue effectively, how can one honestly want a commercial stand for next to nothing?

He said a clear sign that the councillors wanted to merely abuse the facility was the fact that they were targeting any stand within the city.

When a councillor gets into office the basic assumption is that they have a property within the ward now that they are targeting any stand goes to prove that the councillors are simply trying to abuse the facility for their personal gains, said the Minister.

According to a confidential report the councillors would also not have to go to tender to purchase commercial stands while they were also exempted from the normal requirements of constructing a build, this inclusive of the periods by which one is required to do developmental work before council repossesses the stand.

Contacted for comment the then Acting Mayor, Councillor Amen Mpofu said there was nothing wrong with this scheme if it was conducted in a legal manner.

I dont see anything sinister about that, if anyone thinks the 40 percent discount is too much this is mere jealousy, when you look at it this would be one of the only benefits we have had since our tenure in council, he said.