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Ray Bande Manicaland Bureau
Land developers in Mutare are now demanding outstanding payments in US dollars or RTGS at prevailing black market rates, leaving aspiring house owners at risk of losing out on both the land and subscriptions they have been paying for years, The Herald has learnt.

Members of several housing cooperatives in Mutare such as Hillview near Dangamvura are crying foul over the land developers’ move to convert to black market rates. Hillview Housing Cooperative has about 700 high-density residential stands beneficiaries.

Members of the cooperative who spoke to our Manicaland Bureau said they felt cheated by the land developers. One of the members, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said he was paying his contributions on time and the remaining $1 000 was now being converted into US dollar black market value.

“I think this is unfair,” he said. “I have been paying my contributions in recent years in RTGS or bond note form of payment and the remaining $1 000 is now being converted into US dollar.

“What that means is that I am being asked to pay US$1 000 and in essence I am now starting all over again. I think we desperately need the intervention of authorities in this predicament.

“They cannot suddenly ask us to pay in US dollar while we were paying in local currency all along.”

A member of a different housing cooperative, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said land developers seemed to be taking advantage of the situation to demand outstanding payments in US dollar value.

“I think these land developers want to make the most out of the prevailing situation,” she said. “How can we be asked to pay outstanding subscriptions in US dollar when we were paying in the RTGS form? After all, we do not earn US dollars at our workplaces. The result is that we will soon have our stands being resold and we stand to lose out on subscriptions that we have been paying over the years. This is just not fair.”

Zimbabwe Housing Company land developers, who rolled out the Hillview project, confirmed repackaging the outstanding subscriptions in current US dollar black market rates in order to meet the costs of completing servicing the residential area.