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STOP MKHOSI TOWNSHIP PLOT ALLOCATIONS – PARLY

18/11/2020 00:40:00 BY SIBONGILE SUKATI

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MBABANE – Plot allocations and subsequent construction of houses at Mkhosi Township should be halted within 48 hours.

This is a recommendation made by the House of Assembly select committee which had been tasked to consider a petition from Mkhosi Township concerned property buyers who feel they were cheated of their property.

In its recommendations, the committee which was chaired by Gilgal MP Sandla Fakudze, stated that the Minister of Housing and Urban Development should within 48 hours instruct the Manzini Municipal Council (MMC) to suspend any allocations and subsequent construction at the township.

The committee in its report stated that the suspension should be carried out in light of the glaring disregard of consultative processes which were constitutionally protected tenant under Chapter III of the Constitution Act No.1 of 2005.

The report is expected to be debated by the House of Assembly at it’s next sitting.

The committee further recommended that the minister should within 60 days of the adoption of the report appoint a Commission of Enquiry in terms of the Commission of Enquiry Act, 1963 to investigate the irregularities that allegedly transpired during the declaration of Mkhosi Township.

The commission of enquiry is also expected to investigate any corrupt or unlawful practices that contributed adversely to the people who were initially earmarked for the project.

Deprived

It was stated that this resulted in them being unfairly and unlawfully deprived of their property ownership and money paid to the Manzini Municipal Council, in lieu of owning the said property.

In its findings, the committee stated that the MMC declared Mkhosi as a township with the aim of providing low cost plots to low income earners and the land used was Crown land.

“Subsequently the agreement between the municipal council and prospective buyers culminated to the council issuing out an advertisement calling upon people to apply for plots which were intended to be sold at a price of E30 000 to E80 000,” reads the report.

It was revealed that it was a condition in the advert which was published in the Times of Swaziland in November 1999 that interested applicants would pay a commitment deposit of E2 000 on the signing of the deed of sale.

In response to the advert it was found that over 500 people applied and about 161 were successful and duly paid the deposit. A Memorandum of Agreement (MoU) was further signed by the people and the MMC which was a document formalising the undertaking by the council and prospective buyers.

The committee stated that there were glaring discrepancies in the manner in which the council handled the Mkhosi Township project.

“Firstly, the MCC omitted its legal duty to first secure the preliminary infrastructure for purposes of setting up a township such as road access, electricity, water and sewage services,” it was submitted.

It was stated that the municipality had anticipated that it shall in the future secure a loan facility from financial institutions to service the project site with the assistance of the guarantee from the ministry.

The committee stated that the overconfidence on the part of the municipality to secure the necessary funding led it to implement processes which ought to have been implemented after the preliminary infrastructure was set up.

Pay

They select committee submitted that as a result people were made to pay for plots that were not readily available.

“The committee finds that the advert insinuated that a prospective buyer on paying the E2 000 commitment fee were to be made to sign a deed of sale, but instead were made to sign an MoU,” it was submitted.

Among the salient terms of the MoU, the price set per square metre of the plot was E40 and this was a material fact that all the parties were all under the impression that the purchase price was fixed at E40/M2.

It was reported that the prospective buyers paid different amounts ranging from commitment deposits of E2 000 to the full purchase price of the plots.

“It is an undisputed fact that the money was deposited into the coffers of the municipal council and the council held such money from year 2000,” reads the report.

The committee further stated that the municipality unilaterally altered the terms of the MoU after a period of 13 years without any legal document authorising such.

It was stated that the municipality drastically increased the purchase price from E40/m2 to E350/m2 an increase equivalent to 875 per cent.

“The unilateral decision of the municipal council was to the prejudice of the prospective buyers with some forced out of the project due to unaffordability,” reads the report.

The committee further found that the MMC continues to allocate plots at Mkhosi Township yet there are no clear guidelines used as to how and who can be allocated a plot.

It was reported that the process was not in line with the Crown Land Act and Crown Land Disposal Regulations.