Mrs Joyline Chipfuva cleaning kitchen utensils in the open after Harare city council last week demolished illegal houses belonging to Three Glory Housing co-operative in Warren Park, Harare - Picture by Kudakwashe Hunda
The Sunday Mail
Many of us, in Africa at least, had a mother who after catching us misbehaving as a child would wisely opt not to spare the rod but then warn: “Ukaramba uchichema ndinokurova futi.”
In English, mother was saying: “If you keep crying, I will whip you again.”
Children play in a makeshift house in Harare’s Warren Park surburb where illegal houses were demolished by the city of Harare last week – Picture by Kudakwashe Hunda
A variation of this was “if you keep crying I will give you something to really cry about!”
Even as children, we recognised the inherent illogic in this. Little did we know that it was an illogic that would haunt us again and again.
Think of how in some societies, the female victim of rape is blamed for being raped. “She tempted the man, she asked for it,” is the logic.
She is publicly shamed, imprisoned or even stoned to death.
But before we express outrage over this, consider the typical reaction of some Africans, Zimbabweans included, when it comes to rape.
Do we not ask why the woman got drunk while alone with the man who then raped her? Do we not cast aspersions on her character because we think that the way she was dressed was provocative and in essence the man could not help himself?
In our own little ways we are shaming, imprisoning and stoning these victims of a crime that can never be justified.
This mentality, this attitude of blaming the victim permeates many facets of our lives.
Consider the manner in which local authorities are dealing with the matter of houses illegally constructed on undesignated land.
The land in question is sometimes a wetland, a marsh or a swampy area. It may be under power lines or is reserved for some other purpose such as recreation or whatever the local authorities would have planned.
Most Zimbabweans, we would like to believe, are aware that they cannot safely build next to electricity pylons or on wetlands. Also, most Zimbabweans would not be aware that they are building on land reserved for recreational or aesthetic purposes by town planners.
Very few people would willingly part with their hard-earned money so as to raise their families in high-risk areas.
They do so because they are desperate. That is the first instance of their victimhood.
Shelter is a basic need and right. People need roofs over their heads. And where housing delivery does not come close to meeting demand, people will build where they build.
In a very basic way, that is the social push factor behind emergence of squatter camps.
In our case, people are not erecting squatter settlements. They are putting up brick and mortar structures.
This means they have the money, hard as it is to come by, to build. So they are in a sense financially capable of building, but unable to do so legally because they do not have access to designated residential stands.
How do local authorities respond? They demolish the houses.
And this becomes the second instance of their victimhood as they are punished for being victims of non-delivery of legal housing stands.
But these are not the only instances of their victimhood.
These people will have parted with good money to acquire the stands. They, for the most part, sincerely believe that they have legally acquired the stands in question.
Someone sold them those stands. That someone had sufficient clout to make everything appear official. That someone had paperwork that made everything look legit.
So slick was the operation that when the buyer of the stand checked with the local authority before building, she/he was given the green light.
Inspectors from the local authority, in some cases, visited the construction sites and signed off on the projects.
Now those houses are being demolished because they are on undesignated land.
The victim is being punished for being a victim.
It is good that arrests have started being made. But one cannot help but have the feeling that those in custody are more of middlemen and runners.
This is because such scams cannot surely be run by individuals who just wake up one morning and decide to start allocating land in cities.
Someone higher up is on the take, someone higher up is co-ordinating this grand larceny. That someone must be brought to book.
EDITORIAL COMMENT: ‘If you cry, I’ll beat you again’
The Sunday Mail
Many of us, in Africa at least, had a mother who after catching us misbehaving as a child would wisely opt not to spare the rod but then warn: “Ukaramba uchichema ndinokurova futi.”
In English, mother was saying: “If you keep crying, I will whip you again.”
A variation of this was “if you keep crying I will give you something to really cry about!”
Even as children, we recognised the inherent illogic in this. Little did we know that it was an illogic that would haunt us again and again.
Think of how in some societies, the female victim of rape is blamed for being raped. “She tempted the man, she asked for it,” is the logic.
She is publicly shamed, imprisoned or even stoned to death.
But before we express outrage over this, consider the typical reaction of some Africans, Zimbabweans included, when it comes to rape.
Do we not ask why the woman got drunk while alone with the man who then raped her? Do we not cast aspersions on her character because we think that the way she was dressed was provocative and in essence the man could not help himself?
In our own little ways we are shaming, imprisoning and stoning these victims of a crime that can never be justified.
This mentality, this attitude of blaming the victim permeates many facets of our lives.
Consider the manner in which local authorities are dealing with the matter of houses illegally constructed on undesignated land.
The land in question is sometimes a wetland, a marsh or a swampy area. It may be under power lines or is reserved for some other purpose such as recreation or whatever the local authorities would have planned.
Most Zimbabweans, we would like to believe, are aware that they cannot safely build next to electricity pylons or on wetlands. Also, most Zimbabweans would not be aware that they are building on land reserved for recreational or aesthetic purposes by town planners.
Very few people would willingly part with their hard-earned money so as to raise their families in high-risk areas.
They do so because they are desperate. That is the first instance of their victimhood.
Shelter is a basic need and right. People need roofs over their heads. And where housing delivery does not come close to meeting demand, people will build where they build.
In a very basic way, that is the social push factor behind emergence of squatter camps.
In our case, people are not erecting squatter settlements. They are putting up brick and mortar structures.
This means they have the money, hard as it is to come by, to build. So they are in a sense financially capable of building, but unable to do so legally because they do not have access to designated residential stands.
How do local authorities respond? They demolish the houses.
And this becomes the second instance of their victimhood as they are punished for being victims of non-delivery of legal housing stands.
But these are not the only instances of their victimhood.
These people will have parted with good money to acquire the stands. They, for the most part, sincerely believe that they have legally acquired the stands in question.
Someone sold them those stands. That someone had sufficient clout to make everything appear official. That someone had paperwork that made everything look legit.
So slick was the operation that when the buyer of the stand checked with the local authority before building, she/he was given the green light.
Inspectors from the local authority, in some cases, visited the construction sites and signed off on the projects.
Now those houses are being demolished because they are on undesignated land.
The victim is being punished for being a victim.
It is good that arrests have started being made. But one cannot help but have the feeling that those in custody are more of middlemen and runners.
This is because such scams cannot surely be run by individuals who just wake up one morning and decide to start allocating land in cities.
Someone higher up is on the take, someone higher up is co-ordinating this grand larceny. That someone must be brought to book.
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