Residents of Bulawayo’s Pelandaba West have turned on the City of Bulawayo over its failure to hold a private land developer accountable for unfinished infrastructure work, as the cost of constructing roads in the suburb has ballooned to more than US$300 000.
At the centre of the dispute is Edmund Campion Takawira Shonhiwa Property Developers, one of several private companies contracted to service Pelandaba West in 2006. Despite leaving roads incomplete, the developer was controversially issued a certificate of completion in 2021. The company’s founder, Edmund Shonhiwa, has since died.
READ: Shoddy private land developers are short-changing Bulawayo public — CITEZW
During a meeting with council officials on Sunday, residents accused the local authority of allowing housing construction to proceed before roads and other basic services were in place — and of failing to pursue the developer through the courts when the work fell short.
On this topic
“How did council allow Shonhiwa to build houses before road construction?” one resident asked. “Council shouldn’t burden us when they know Shonhiwa’s background.”
Others described arriving in the suburb to find no services whatsoever. “We came here when there was nothing. We had to put in sewer, we connected water on our own, and at the moment we are struggling to connect power — while Shonhiwa is still collecting money,” said one homeowner.
Residents also questioned council’s oversight mechanisms, challenging whether inspectors had ever verified conditions on the ground or simply accepted paperwork from the developer.
“Someone was sleeping on duty,” said resident S. Sayi. “If there was no error, we wouldn’t be sitting in this meeting.”
Khumbulani Maphosa argued that the developer’s death did not dissolve the company’s obligations. “Edmund Shonhiwa died as a person. If I die today, council doesn’t stop charging my house,” he said. “Why is the company not held responsible? Council has a legal department with qualified lawyers, why did they not approach the relevant courts?”
Ward 18 Councillor Felix Madzana acknowledged that mistakes had been made but said the focus now needed to shift to solutions. “I could see that mistakes were made in the past. But we had to find a way forward because people cannot stay in an unserviced area, it reduces house value,” he said.
Madzana proposed that residents elect a small committee to engage directly with the Town Clerk, the Mayor, the Department of Works and the council’s legal team.
A Department of Works representative, S. Ndlovu, admitted the developer had not met the required standards. “The truth is that on roads, he didn’t do well. What he did was simply open pathways,” she said.
Ndlovu told residents that a 2024 assessment found the area had approximately two kilometres of roads in total, and that constructing them to proper urban standards would cost upwards of US$300 000, a figure that includes hiring machinery, as the city currently operates only two graders for the entire city. Spread across the suburb’s 347 households, that translates to roughly US$900 per household.
Leave a Reply