The Sunday Mail
WITHIN minutes, the imposing mansion, which only had to be roofed to be habitable, had been flattened.
It was quite clear that a fortune had been invested into the project, yet in no time all that remained was rubble.
There was such a deafening silence from onlookers that one could hear a needle drop.
Each time I heard the heaving sound of the earthmover’s engine, I felt as if a flint was being driven deeper and deeper into my flesh.
It was painful.
What was left was a wasteland of crushed bricks, contorted windowpanes and empty cement bags.
Demolitions have set tongues wagging since last week.
Called “kupaza”, “kuturunura”, “kudzura” or “kutsemura”, it cannot be wished on anyone.
Illegal structures are currently being pulled down, dealing a body blow to owners who would have obviously invested a fortune on them.
Recently, houses that were at various stages of construction were pulled down in Ashdown Park because they had been built illegally.
Some of these challenges can be traced back to land barons who duped people of their hard-earned money.
“Land barons are sending people to an early grave. They are earning a living through ways that leave others bleeding and we need to do something about them,” cried a Ghana-based florist called Mr Pomerai Nzarachirombo.
He said locals need to be acquainted with how to legally buy stands to avoid future heartache.
“What we need is a situation where people are taught the proper and stress-free way of acquiring residential and commercial stands. Shortcuts usually leave people bruised, with no one to run to when calamity strikes.”
A number of people have been left reeling after their illegal business stands were destroyed.
Scores of vendors and informal traders are also counting their losses after authorities moved in to destroy structures that had been established along main roads in the capital.
“I need to sit down and restrategise. I need to restart the formula because apa ndarohwa panyama nhete. Ndabaiwa nebanga jena mwana wamudhara,” quipped one vendor identified as Matemai, whose illegal tuckshop was razed in the ongoing blitz.
“I have no comment on this. All I need is to get a sound sleep because I have lost a fortune. Hapana hapana,” he said.
Some affected informal traders are contemplating relocating to rural areas as they no longer have anywhere to sleep because they used their stalls as both business premises and a home.
Looters also reportedly took advantage of the demolitions.
They looted bread, biscuits, sweets and little everything else, including matches.
Others walked away richer after stumbling on abandoned cash boxes.
“I have been left between a hard place and a rock. All this is because I trusted someone too much. I paid money to a gentleman called Felix and he promised me that nothing would ever happen to me as long as I had settled matters with him. I cannot believe this is the situation he has left me in. When the council officials came seeking to demolish my stall, I thought he would intervene but now he is nowhere to be found,” cried Mrs Violette Shumba of Waterfalls.
The demolition of illegal stalls is expected to help clear roads which had become impassable.
It is also, in part, expected to reduce crime as some informal traders had become infamous for conducting illegal businesses like shebeens and selling drugs.
“The demolition route is tough but it will solve a lot of challenges. Did you know that these are the guys who were fuelling drug and alcohol abuse. Prostitution was also rife as these people were running brothels. People who sell drugs were in those stalls . . . and were largely fuelling the black market.
“It is bad to look at one side. Let these people go because they were even violating business regulations. Smuggled goods were being sold by those affected people and we should never shed a tear for them. Yadeuka, yadeuka mvura haidyorerwe,” shouted a female guzzler called Chihera in Highfield at the weekend.
It helps to walk on the straight and narrow.
Inotambika mughetto.
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