The Sunday Mail
Debra Matabvu
ALL structures that do not conform to the country’s legal instruments and city by-laws will be demolished as Government takes a hard stance on illegal settlements, a senior Government official has said.
The latest announcement comes as Harare City Council has been demolishing houses that were constructed on illegal or unapproved sites, with the latest ones being in Arlington where residential stands were parcelled in an area that is reserved for Harare International Airport’s expansion.
According to Regional Town and Country Planning Act (Chapter 29:12), every new development needs approval from the Department of Physical Planning and should conform to respective local authority model building by laws.
Most land barons have illegally invaded land that is meant for recreational facilities and wetlands, dishing out stands and swindling desperate home seekers of millions of dollars.
Some of the illegal settlements have no running water, sewerage reticulation, roads or electricity and were built under power lines or above sewage pipes.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail last week, Deputy Minister for Local Government, Public Works and National Housing; Cde Christopher Chingosho said any land development that had not been approved by Government or the respective local authority will not be spared.
He also urged councils to deal with illegal settlements urgently.
“There is an Act that mandates that every new development has to be planned and approved by the Department of Physical Planning and should conform to the respective local authority model building by laws,” he said.
“Any development that has not been approved at any of the two levels should be demolished without fear or favour.
“Local authorities need to be alert to illegal development at all times (and) act on these fast before they blow out of proportion.
“They need to exercise their authority to nip illegal activities in the bud than letting them blow out before acting.
“Whilst Government has, in most cases, chosen the soft avenue of regularising illegal settlements, members of the public in connivance with land barons have often seen this as a weakness worth taking advantage of and then shedding crocodile tears when a heavy hand is used.”
Minister Chingosho also urged courts to preside decisively over cases of land barons brought before them.
“Due process has to be followed before evictions and or demolitions are carried out. Whilst councils will be waiting for court orders, the same land barons continue parcelling out land and encouraging beneficiaries to construct houses without approved plans or building inspections.
“Thus, I urge the courts to treat land issues as urgent matters as they have far reaching consequences.”
Thousands of families have lost properties worth thousands of dollars and have been left homeless after being duped by land barons who illegally parcel out land to unsuspecting home seekers.
Since last year, more than 15 alleged land barons were arrested and their cases are still pending in the courts.
The illegal selling of land was rampant in Harare, Harare South and Chitungwiza.
. . . as Harare presides over chaos
Time is stubborn, it moves at its own pace and no-one can manipulate it.
For authorities running Harare City Council, it seems to be moving too fast.
In 2012, Harare City Council announced a grand master-plan, its intention to turn the country’s capital into a world class city by 2025.
The project was envisaged to see infrastructure go through major refurbishments and the introduction of technological systems to enable smooth movement of both human and vehicular population.
It also involved construction of state of the art shopping malls and high rise buildings.
But it is almost four years since that announcement was made and the ambitious grand plan is still just a pipe-dream.
Instead, the city’s standards continue to deteriorate at the city fathers’ noses. Chaos is the order of the day.
Systems have broken down and illegal activities now appear legal.
There are illegal structures, illegal settlements, illegal taxis, illegal business operations, illegal vendors; the list is just endless.
Questions have been asked on the real cause of this lawlessness and why the chaos continues unabated.
Over the years, the local authority has come up with different operations that are meant to steam out the activities but most of them have either been abandoned prematurely or have failed to attain the desired results.
Last year, council launched a major blitz that drove off vendors and commuter omnibuses from undesignated locations and in no time, normalcy returned to the city.
Soon after that, the officials sat back on their laurels.
And in no time, chaos resumed and has since spilled to residential areas where makeshift churches, backyard tuck shops and cottages are spouting everywhere.
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) chief executive officer, Mr Mfundo Mlilo accused the city authorities of allowing the situation to get out of hand
“The local authority tends to relax and let these illegal activities go out of hand. They only react when the situation gets out of hand,” he said.
“They turn a blind eye to these activities, only to react when there is a public outcry and these reactions do not come with lasting solutions.
“Lately, they have been focusing on towing away vehicles. The project’s focus seems to be revenue collection.”
But University of Zimbabwe lecturer in the Department of Rural and Urban Planning, Nyasha Mutsindikwa said the local authorities are bearing the brunt of economic crisis.
“The biggest problem is that the informal sector has dominated everything. Urban centres are meant to provide employment so when that does not happen, informal sector takes over and that is the current situation,” he said.
“By-laws are difficult to implement when people do not have money to be formally register their activities.
He also argued that the local authorities are in an ethical dilemma because “people want to survive”.
“There is also the issue of market forces, the CBD is where the market is. The local authority needs to device mechanisms of managing the CBD vending sites because removing them and placing them elsewhere will not work.
“Government also needs to support smaller towns. They should be given grants and industries must be set up there. In the long term, people will start to move to smaller towns.
Harare cooperate communication manager, Mr Michael Chideme admitted that at times, the city is failing to cope with the illegal activities. He however urged residents to join hands with council to root out illegal activities.
“There is wanton disregard of the law to the extent that the City of Harare is failing to cope and sometimes illegal activities are only noticed when the offending structures are already in use.
