By Correspondent
A political scheme by a pressure group Homeseekers For ED (H4ED) to win over residents has died a premature death as Marondera Council has begun operations on the ground.
Council revealed this week that it had begun clearing roads and pegging stands in Elmswood.
The move throws into chaos overtures by H4ED which had accused Council of failing to fulfil its promise.
Instead H4ED had announced the literal takeover of the project with assistances that it would give people stands.
The running of parallel programs to deal with the Elmswood saga had brought more confusion to the stand buyers.
However, Council this week convened a meeting for beneficiaries as it prepares to hand over the stands.
Marondera Mayor Chengetayi Murowa assured beneficiaries that they are going to get their stands.
“Everyone is going to get a stand.
“We are working on modalities on how are we going to allocate those stands.
“We are already on the ground working day and night to speed up the process,” he said.
However, Murowa said beneficiaries should top up money to cover costs for development.
“We have high, medium and low density stands.
“Our beneficiaries should top up 30% of the actual price and the rest should be paid in installments.”
Meanwhile, H4ED’s own plans hangs in the balance following this development.
H4ED had been collecting $4 per stand owner alleging that it was money to help solve the Elmswood saga.
An effort to get a comment from H4ED National Vice-Chairman Farai Nyandoro were fruitless as his mobile went unanswered.
9 Year Old Saga
The Elmswood saga had been dragging on since 2015 when thousands paid amounts ranging between US$500 and US$1 500 to the council.
Beneficiaries were set to get land with the assistance of the then Zanu PF candidate Lawrence Katsiru.
However, it later emerged that the land belonged to a private company, called Swandev.
The two parties have been locked in a dispute since then despite several meetings.
