NSSF Board of Trustees wants tenants’ application rejected

THE Board of Trustees of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) today asked the High Court’s Land Division to reject the application by tenants of its flats at Tabata areas, seeking to temporarily halt the sell by tender of the blocks.

Advocate Stalla Manongi told Judge Atuganile Ngwala that the court could not grant the application for “the status quo” and that the intended sale of the flats by tender should be maintained because there was no main suit pending before the temple of justice.

“There is no suit which has been filed before this court so as to form bases under which this application for maintenance of the status quo can be made. This application is illegal, illogical as we do not see how could it be applied and, therefore, cannot be entertained,” she said.

The advocate, however, consented to the other application by the tenants, who are seeking to file a representative suit to challenge the highly contested process of selling the NSSF flats situated at Tabata Phase II Housing Project in

Advocate Samson Mbamba, for the tenants, basically agreed with the submissions by Ms Manongi on the issue of order for maintenance of the status quo that could not be issued before a suit is filed in court.

He submitted, however, that in the present case the court had powers to grant the order in the manner the matter was presented. The advocate submitted that it was not true as argued by Ms Manongi that the grant of the order was illegal.

Mr Mbamba pointed out further that since NSSF were not objecting to the substantive application for filing of the representative suit and if the court would grant permission to file the suit, the same would be made alongside application seeking for injunction.

Ruling of the application will be delivered on March 15, this year. Some of tenants of flats include; the Deputy Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Aisha Kigoda, High Court Judge Aishiel Sumari, Kigoma North MP Zitto Kabwe, ambassadors and several other advocates.

In December last year, Judge Ngwala issued a temporary order by ordering the status quo to be maintained pending hearing inter-parties of an application by four of the tenants of the flats, seeking leave to represent 71 others to sue the NSSF to challenge the controversial sale.

Through their advocate, Samson Mbamba, other four tenants, Edward Shilogile, Stella Mbonde, Anna David and Seni Malimi, filed their application under certificate of urgency on December 24, last year.

They stated that NSSF has issued a tender notice for the sale of the flats while their respective tenancy agreements were still in force and award of tenders would mean their eviction, thus, causing inconveniencies and hardship to them.

The tenants are objecting NSSF’s decision to sell the flats through open tender without giving them first priority.

According to the tenants, they have been renting the flats for more than ten years, but NSSF’s decision to sell the houses through open tender was against the president’s directives on decent house policy to citizens.

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