Bulawayo City Council has given the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) a second chance to develop a commercial stand it acquired in 2003 after some councillors pushed to have it repossessed.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU A section of councillors were pushing for stand 17009 BT to be repossessed from Zimra after the tax authority failed to construct a regional office complex and warehouse.
According to the agreement of sale signed in 2003, construction on the stand was supposed to commence within six months, with a two-year deadline for completion.
To date, no development has taken place and councillors were equally divided on whether to repossess the stand or not.
“Councillor Silas Chigora was opposed to the recommendation of the finance and development committee which sought to repossess stand 17009 BT from Zimra,” reads part of the latest council report.
“The council should appreciate the potential development by Zimra, which would benefit the city.
“Whoever might be allocated the stand after Zimra would most probably face the same predicament of lack of funding and fail to develop the stands in view of the current economic challenges.
“He (Chigora) therefore supported the recommendation of the sub-committee on allocation of stands and premises for development to give Zimra extension of time so that they could proceed with development of the premises,” part of the latest minutes of the finance and development committee read.
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However, other councillors had argued that not repossessing the stand would set an undesirable precedent as individuals and other organisations will flood the council seeking the same treatment.
“In support of this view, councillor Nephat Sibanda said that the council should guard against setting an undesirable precedent as many organisations and individuals could demand the same treatment.
“The council should therefore just repossess the stand and give others a chance,” the minutes added.
The matter was put up for a vote as councillors could not find common ground and a motion to have the stand repossessed was declared not adopted.
Council resolved to give Zimra more time to develop the stand.
