REDCLIFF Town Council has suspended the sale of its dilapidated Torwood houses after it emerged that most of the sitting tenants were unable to pay for the properties as they were out of employment.
REPORT BY BLESSED MHLANGA
The majority of residents staying in Torwood are former Ziscosteel employees.
Deputy mayor Clayton Masiyatsva told NewsDay yesterday that council had rescinded its 2012 resolution to sell the houses to sitting tenants.
“We have realised that most of the people who call these houses home are employed by Ziscosteel and have not been paid any meaningful salaries for over two years and therefore will not be able to buy, so we suspended the sale,” he said.
Council acquired a $500 000 loan from government to rehabilitate close to 850 housing units in Torwood which previously belonged to fallen steel giant Ziscosteel.
Mayor Freddy Kapuya, then a special interest councillor, through his company Wack Drive properties was awarded the lucrative contract to upgrade the homes ahead of the planned sale.
Part of the money was used to construct toilets for the houses built in 1942.
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The three-roomed houses, previously valued at around $7 000 each, were supposed to be sold to allow council to service its debt, realise a small profit which would then be used to pay off some of the council loans now believed to be close to $7 million.
Masiyatsva said council would only consider selling the houses after NewZim Steel, formerly known as Ziscosteel, resumed operations.
“The people staying in the houses are failing to pay rentals of just as little as $15 per month to council and it would be foolish for us to think they could raise the money to buy the houses,” he said.
