The Sunday Mail
Government will soon dissolve all housing co-operatives and become directly involved in national housing delivery as the present system has failed to fulfill this mandate.
Investigators are also probing some Harare councillors for selling municipal land illegally, in certain cases pocketing at least US$5 000 per stand.
Further, the State will continue repossessing underutilised land from urban councils.
Local authorities are largely responsible for housing provision, with co-operatives helping develop properties using members’ monthly subscriptions.
However, a good number of home-seekers have lost huge sums in scams involving bogus land developers and illegal sales allegedly engineered by certain councillors.
Property demand remains high, with the national housing backlog static at roughly 1,25 million units.
Under the coming dispensation, the Urban Development Corporation will be reconstituted to take over land currently held by housing co-operatives.
The corporation, an arm of the Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Ministry, will spearhead massive residential projects alongside councils. Fifty-two housing co-operatives with unserviced land in Harare’s Kuwadzana suburb have already been identified.
Government will settle outstanding payments and reserve stands for co-operative members who had paid council for land.
Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere told The Sunday Mail: “We have decided to ask the Udcorp board to step down and we will set up a new board with expertise, people with financial and architectural backgrounds and so forth.
“We cannot talk of co-operatives today; look at the mess we have in Harare South, Caledonia and other places. The country can no longer afford to have chaos caused by co-operatives.”
He continued, “And we will be transferring a chunk of land to Udcorp to undertake massive urban renewal programmes and housing schemes alongside local authorities. We will appoint the board early next month and discussions with Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa have taken place to see how we can capacitate Udcorp.
“We have realised that on their own, councils will never be able to deliver enough houses to our people. Therefore, the State will now become much more involved in a direct way. We also want to partner the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Homelink, CBZ and other financial institutions.”
Minister Kasukuwere said his ministry has information that certain Harare councillors were selling land illegally. “We are investigating these councillors on a number of issues. Some of them are involved in selling land to co-operatives for as much has US$5 000, calling themselves consultants. In fact, some co-operatives are actually being run by these councillors!
“We are moving in to clean the housing sector by ensuring land in the hands of councils is available under a transparent system where we identify bonafide developers with capacity.”
He added: “We have taken the position that land, even if it belongs to council, will be repossessed by the State if it is not being out to good use. It will be developed so that people benefit.
“We will not allow individuals’ interests to override the interests of the majority, where these few discard health, security and environmental concerns.”
Housing co-operatives emerged in 2000 to alleviate housing shortages after local authorities failed to provide decent accommodation.
More than 2 600 housing cooperatives are registered with Government, and 1 200 have been allocated land.
Most areas run by co-operatives lack basic water, sewer and road infrastructure.
In April this year, Government handed over Caledonia Farm to Harare City Council for administration after housing co-operatives failed to develop the area for years.
Some 30 000 people paid US$57 million since 2010, but the area lacked basic infrastructure.
Housing delivery is one of Zim-Asset’s key objectives, with authorities targeting 318 000 housing units by 2018.
