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Tawanda Gozo

Walter Mswazie, Masvingo Correspondent
MORE than 100 businesses operating in Masvingo city are facing eviction after they allocated themselves land.

According to the latest council report, the municipality is concerned with the mushrooming of informal businesses which have allocated themselves working space without council approval.

These businesses are as a result not paying rates to council. The city engineer Mr Tawanda Gozo has been instructed to attend to the matter in terms of the city of Masvingo development control by-laws.

“Mr Gozo should investigate with a view to stop the self-allocation of land in line with the city of Masvingo by-laws,” read the report.

Masvingo mayor Councillor Hubert Fidze said the businesses that allocated themselves land were operating illegally.

He said while the city welcomed investors, those that want to operate in the city should not violate its by-laws.

“There are more than 100 informal businesses that allocated themselves land and this is illegal hence the council’s decision to evict them,” said Clr Fidze.

He said the worst affected was the city’s industrial area where businesses were operating without paying anything to council thereby prejudicing the local authority.

Clr Fidze said the ongoing property survey that council is conducting will help to flush out illegal land occupiers.

The council is undertaking a property survey in partnership with Masvingo Polytechnic. The survey seeks to have a database of all properties in Masvingo urban for the purposes of effective billing. — @walterbmswazie3