COMMUNITY TAKES OVER GOVT HOUSES

MNDOBANDOBA - Government houses have been taken over by the community after being abandoned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives at Mndobandoba, near Matata Shopping Complex.

The houses were built over two decades ago to accommodate extension officers of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. This was when the country had a vibrant cotton ginnery and farmers were striking it rich in cotton farming.

When the industry collapsed, the government personnel vacated the houses, leaving them to be dens for thugs, drug peddlers and sex profanities.
The area had three units, which are two bed-room, fashioned the government style with built-in kitchen units, bathrooms and shower fittings. One of the houses accommodates a government tractor driver.

When the trying years took toll in the agriculture industry, occasioned by the long drought spell, the houses were gradually plundered.
Doors were ripped off, sinks and taps detached as well as some roof sheets. Glasses in windows were either carefully removed or crudely smashed, eventually bringing the houses to a ghostly state.

The local authorities through umphakatsi intervened and assumed ownership of the houses, apparently to deal decisively with the high crime rate exacerbated by the unattended houses.

Though some community members, who have watched the development with a critical eye, have alleged that one house was sold for as much as E20 000 to a community member, this was vehemently denied by the traditional authorities, who said no one had paid anything to purchase any of the houses.
The headman of the area, Indvuna Mazibuko confirmed that the local authorities had taken over the houses after an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture.

He said the land on which the houses were built belonged to the local authority and not government, which gave the community every right to reconsider its use.

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