Chitungwiza drops lodgers fees

According to the new charges, prospective home owners are required to pay $20 annually, down from $96 for high density residential properties, $35 for medium density stands down from $300 and $50 for low density stands down from $500.

A notice by the CTC dated June 23, 2014 stated that the new charges only applied to the waiting list for the allocation of residential properties.

“Please note that lodgers fees for cession purposes and application fees for other uses such as commercial, churches, industrial and institutions remain unchanged,” read the notice.

Tinashe Kazuru, Chitungwiza Residents Trust Board Secretary said the review was a positive development considering that the current charges were prohibitive to the ordinary citizen who was earning way below the poverty datum line.

“Although the charges were supposed to be paid annually, they were beyond the reach of a lot of citizens. Most people are employed in the informal sector where the old charges were not affordable to the majority,” said Kazuru.

“The new charges are the first step towards promoting equality among citizens. This provides an opportunity for women, youths, vendors, the disabled, widows and those in the low income bracket to own houses, in the event that people on the waiting list are allocated residential stands.”

Kazuru however emphasised the importance of transparency in the allocation of stands saying if the process continued to be down in a partisan manner, the housing waiting list would continue ballooning.

“What we want is for the local authorities to allocate stands transparently and not prioritise allocating stands along political lines,” he said.

George Makunde, CTC Town Clerk referred all questions to the local authority’s Director of Housing, Benjamin Gwenzi, who said the review had been necessitated by the need for inclusivity of all citizens.

“The current charges were segregatory and we want everyone to benefit from council initiatives,” said Gwenzi, before indicating that he would avail more information in a one on one interview with this reporter tomorrow.

According to the UN Habitant, more than 50 percent of the world’s population in developing nations would be living in cities and towns by the year 2025.

Zimbabwe has seen an influx of its citizens from the rural to urban areas due to various reasons some of which include poverty and the need to secure employment.

However, most local authorities have failed to satisfy the housing backlog whose exact figure is not known but estimated to be over 1, 25 million, according to reports.