The Sunday Mail
Tafadzwa Kadani
Housing co-operatives have come out guns blazing, distancing themselves from the Urban Development Corporation (Udcorp). The cooperatives are arguing that Udcorp was imposed on them by the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing. This emerged last week during a meeting organised by the Zimbabwe Federation of Co-operatives (ZNFC) at the Management Training Bureau in Harare.
Co-operatives from around the country converged to give progress reports and interact with the Minister of Small to Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development, Honourable Sithembiso Nyoni.
Harare North Housing Union chairperson, Mr Never Karoro, presented a progress report and said they have made great progress in providing accommodation to people. “Within the short space of time that we have operated, we have managed to build houses for each other,” he said.
Part V (21) of the Co-operative Act states that, “Every society shall on registration be a body corporate with perpetual succession and, in the name under which it is registered, be capable of holding property, entering into contracts, of suing or being sued…”
It is on this basis that housing co-operatives are challenging the legitimacy of working with Udcorp, a developer that they have no contract with. The Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing recently gave a directive that co-operatives would no longer be allocated State land while city councils would take over the role.
Udcorp was given the responsibility of servicing the stands. The directive came in light of corrupt land barons who were robbing people of their hard-earned cash through the double allocation of stands.
Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Savior Kasukuwere weighed in on the issue saying Government came to the rescue of the masses who were being robbed of their money by corrupt individuals.
“We had a serious problem with unscrupulous individuals who were bogus and instead of developing the pieces of land that they had been given, they decided to rob people of their hard-earned cash. That is when we decided to take over,” he said.
According to Hon Kasukuwere, housing co-operative leaders would have family members as executive of committees and this resulted in them being unpopular with their members.
He also added that in a short space of time, Udcorp has managed to do what cooperatives failed to do in 10 years. “We are not saying the whole co-operative movement is a bogus movement, but most of them have shown that they cannot be trusted with State land. Therefore, the way forward is to have the State take over from housing cooperatives,” Hon Kasukuwere said.
But Mr Karoro claimed that Udcorp was levying commission ranging from 1,5 percent to 3,5 percent of the projects’ total cost. “Udcorp has been charging 1,5 percent to 3,5 percent of the total cost of project and this is very costly for our members. Engaging preferred developers is better,” he argued.
However, said Udcorp general manager, Bright Mudzova said commission charges are the ministry’s directive, depending on the magnitude of the project.
Zimbabwe National Co-operative Federation president, Mr Mike Duru, also weighed in saying that the Co-operative Act allows them to choose developers. “Udcorp is just like any other developer so I do not see why we are being forced to work with them,” he said.
Members of housing co-operatives pay monthly installments with their leadership managing the funds and building the houses. In some cases, members are not in the committees that are responsible for financial transactions.
Responding to this, Mudzova said cooperatives’ leaders are against his organisation due to fear of loosing significance. “The cooperatives’ leadership fear that they will lose their significance if their members are to directly deal with us as a developer,” he said.
He said they communicate with their members on progress through Press statements. “When we get to a place, we first do door-to-door registration, data capturing and then we verify against the list we would have been given. We also look into any queries that may arise till we establish who the rightful owner of the stand is,” he explained.
Minister Nyoni said cooperatives were set up through an Act of Parliament and they will be dissolved in the same way if the need arises.
“Cooperatives are still in existence and I am in charge. Those spreading the rumours that they no longer exists are just merely ushering out hot air,” she said. However, she implored cooperatives to put their houses in order.
“You allowed a few individuals to tarnish your names through corrupt activities and abusing corporate funds. People do not respect such, they respect sanity.”
