Shoddy private land developers are short-changing Bulawayo public

“When he died in January 2022, he left us with unfinished roads, burst sewers and broken promises,” says Nylon Gatsheni, a resident leader in Pelandaba West Phase 2 lamenting the death of a private land developer who allegedly left many residents in a ditch. E.C.T Shonhiwa Property Developers, is one of several private land developers contracted to service residential stands in Bulawayo. The company owned by the late Edmund Campion Takawira Shonhiwa was allocated 91 stands in Pelandaba West suburb in 2006.

However, the developer did not fully service the stands but was issued with a certificate of completion in 2021 . A Compliance Certificate is issued when a land developer has provided services such as tarred roads, sewer reticulation, water supply and drainages to required quality standards. Besides, without a Compliance Certificate, title deeds cannot be processed for individual stands.

Private land developers need to be certified before they can hand over serviced stands to the Bulawayo City Council. A Compliance Certificate issued on 22 September 2021 to E.C.T Shonhiwa Property Developers seen by CITE was signed by Sikhumbuzo Ncube, then Deputy Director of Engineering Services on 6 October 2022. Ncube was appointed Director of Engineering Services in April 2023.

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The Compliance Certificate states that BCC was satisfied with the servicing of 91 stands under phase 2 with both sewer and water reticulation systems. “…Has met requirements of condition 8 as stated in the Memorandum of Agreement signed on the 26thof May 2006 by satisfactorily demonstrating compliance with relevant technical standards in the following categories of work: water supply and sewer system,” read the Compliance Certificate. E.C.T Shonhiwa Property Developers, sold residential stands in Pelandaba West in 2015, assuring buyers that the area would have paved roads, functional sewer systems and piped water.

More than a decade later, residents say they are living with collapsing sewer lines, poor drainage and gravel roads that become muddy and impassable during the rainy season. Different private land developers were contracted to service Pelandaba West suburb, but residents complain that water, sewer and road infrastructure was not fully installed. Residents were forced to pay for water to be connected to their homes.

Residents of Pelandaba West say they were deceived into believing their stands were fully serviced before they began construction. Gatsheni, who also chairs Ward 18 residents under the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA), recalls:

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