BATTLELINES have been drawn between the Victoria Falls City Council and a tourism operator, Wild Horizons, after council issued the latter with a 90-day ultimatum to vacate the jetty site along the Zambezi River.
Wild Horizons, owned by local and foreign investors, operates boat cruises on stand 1392A and have a lease that is running until 2029. Victoria Falls Town Clerk Mr Ronnie Dube on 30 December 2022 wrote to the tour operator advising them about the need for the company to relocate to the Boat Club in the same area.
“Reference is made to your lease agreement with council which is current, however, council now wants to utilise stand 1392A for other purposes and therefore gives you in terms of Section 18 of the agreement 90 days to relocate to your new site. Council will meet your relocation expenses which among others include setting up your jetty site infrastructure.
The lease rentals that were paid in advance will be credited to your new site. Kindly liaise with the undersigned for clarification,” said Mr Dube.
In response, Wild Horizons corporate affairs and business development director Mrs Barbara Murasiranwa-Hughes said the company was opposed to the decision.
“Please be advised that Wild Horizons is opposed to any such proposal to terminate our current lease agreement and relocate us to an alternative venue for the following reasons: Wild Horizons have a valid lease which expires in March 2029. We have always paid lease fees timeously going as far as prepaying lease fees for the next five years in order to assist council with cash flow difficulties they are facing,” said Mrs Murasiranwa-Hughes.
She said the company strives to foster great partnership with council and have leased and maintained the area for more than 25 years with senior employees having lived in the area for between 33 years and 50 years, showing long term commitment to the municipality. She said the company had applied on numerous occasions to purchase the land but to no avail as the land was said to be not for sale.
Wild Horizons also hold a separate licence with Zimparks for river frontage. The company said the notice was invalid as due process was not legally followed by council as there was no full council resolution on the notice to terminate the lease agreement.
“If the land is now available for purchase from the council, Wild Horizons as the sitting tenant should be given the first right of refusal and have the option to purchase the land before it being offered to investors from outside our city limits. We have indicated in past applications that we will develop this land appropriately and have a clean track record of the ability to do so in numerous other investments we have made on the City of Victoria Falls,” said Mrs Murasiranwa-Hughes.
She said while it has been highlighted that an alternative site exists at the current Victoria Falls Boat Club, Wild Horizons was not willing to go there as the Boat Club also holds a valid lease with council. The company argues that the Boat Club site was not convenient for launching boat cruises because of the nature of the river there, hence it is used as an access point to the river for recreational purposes.
Wild Horizons employs 700 staff, a majority of them locals and pays school fees for 129 disadvantaged children among other numerous corporate social responsibilities, the company said.
Wild Horizons top management attended a full council meeting on Friday expecting the matter to be discussed and left disappointed when it was deferred.
“Having attended the full council meeting of today, it was disappointing to listen to the chair deferring the issue of stand 1392A from the agenda to another date, reason being the matter must be discussed at committee level before its presented back to full council.
We would like to put on record that we believe this move has rendered your letter null and void as we feel Wild Horizons was given notice illegally before all due processes were followed with council. We await advice from council on next full council meeting where we will eagerly attend to defend our position,” she said.
Victoria Falls Combined Residents Association chair Mr Kelvin Moyo said residents were concerned about the matter since Wild Horizons is part of Victoria Falls community and biggest employer. – Sunday News
