Housing Co-op hires thug to intimidate members

Masikati was reportedly hired by the cooperative to instil fear in despondent members wanting to pull out of the project and demanding a refund of the contributions they have made.

One member told The Zimbabwean: Following massive demands for refunding of contributions made by disinterested members, Masikati was hired as a bouncer to man the cooperatives front office.

Those wanting to pull out of the project were told by Masikati that no refunds would be made in respect of monthly contributions made in both Zimbabwean Dollars or after the economy adopted the multi-currency system. This was despite the cooperative having purchased and serviced phase one of the project at Marirangwe farm at the outskirts of the town using members monthly subscriptions. Affected members were mainly those earmarked for the second phase.

Despite the cooperative refusing to refund monthly contributions, withdrawing members were instructed to give three months notice before terminating their affiliation to the housing scheme and told they would only recover contributions made towards purchasing of equipment such as sewer pipes and clearance of roads.

Members who benefitted from the first phase of the project were ordered to clear outstanding arrears by last week, April 1.

Failure to do so would result in repossession of allocated stands. At the launch of the project in 2005, residential stands were selling at $300 each and have since been hiked to an average $3 000. The cooperative was expected to be apolitical, but we were surprised to learn that a Zanu (PF) thug was hired to threaten members demanding a refund of their hard-earned cash, since no progress was being made towards providing members with residential stands, said the source.

The Director for the Cooperative, a Mrs Mukudu, could not be reached for comment at the time of going to print.