The Sunday Mail
Tanyaradzwa Rusike
INCESSANT rains that have been pounding the country over the past few weeks have been readily welcomed and cheered by farmers, but not by those who settled on wetlands.
Rising water levels, as well as boggy and soggy conditions, are destroying properties of the wetland dwellers.
Roads leading to their homes have become impassable, sources of drinking water are now contaminated and ablution facilities have been flooded.
It appears nature is now fighting back.
The Government continues to warn people against settling on wetlands, but these pleas often fall on deaf ears.
The Environmental Management Act (Chapter 20:27) defines wetlands “as areas of marsh, fen, peatlands or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, blackish or salt, including riparian land adjacent to the wetlands”.
Most people building on wetlands bought their properties from land barons.
One of the worst affected areas is an informal settlement in Budiriro 3, where dozens of houses have been affected.
Ms Siyabonga Wuna, a resident from the suburb, told The Sunday Mail that the area is slowly becoming inhabitable.
“I bought my stand in 2020 and the developer promised that the stands were going to be regularised, but there has been no progress. The whole area is waterlogged and the roads are impassable,” she said.
“Those with motor vehicles leave them along the main road due to flooding in the area. It is sad because when we settled here, we had no idea that the situation would come to this. We thought everything was above board.”
Another resident, Mrs Agatha Chibanda, who has been staying in the area for 10 years, said the nightmare always begins when it rains.
“I started staying here in 2013, and we have not been paying anything to the city council. We only submitted our names and paid money to be on the waiting list. Due to these incessant rains, water is now flowing into our homes, and this has been the situation for the past 10 years,” said Mrs Chibanda.
The Sunday Mail also visited other settlements on wetlands in Chitungwiza such as Units C, L and K, as well as Zengeza 4.
Some areas were inaccessible because the roads were impassable.
Environmental Management Agency (EMA) spokesperson Ms Amkela Sidange said it is a punishable offence to be found doing any activity on a wetland without a licence from the organisation.
“Section 113 of the Environmental Management Act (Chapter 20:27) . . . and Statutory Instrument 7 of 2007 actually impress on the same. As EMA, we are seized with the issue and prosecution is being done, and we have a number of developers that we have prosecuted. Just looking at the better part of last year and going into this year, we have issued 128 tickets to developers found constructing on wetlands.”
She said in some instances, local authorities are to blame.
“We do not allocate land, but local authorities do. They are defeating the whole purpose of law enforcement and regulation of wetlands in Zimbabwe because the agency gets to know when the project is now under implementation. We are calling upon local authorities to stop parcelling out stands in wetlands.”
Harare Wetlands Trust co-ordinator Mrs Julia Pierini said building houses on wetlands is a lose-lose situation.
“It is a catastrophe. People have invested their savings into these houses but they will be flooded most rainy seasons, and the stability of the houses will be affected by being situated on wetland soils. We heard yesterday (last Thursday) that a house built on a wetland collapsed in Budiriro. An old lady in the house was killed,” she said.
But this also comes at a cost to the environment.
“Wetlands are critical not only for flood attenuation, but also for water purification (pollution is a major problem in our centres), clean water provisioning and mitigating the effects of our changing climate. And yet we are deliberately destroying the wetlands that sustain our lives.”
Harare City Council’s acting corporate communications manager Mr Innocent Ruwende acknowledged that those who live in wetlands pose problems for the local authority.
“We understand their importance to the city, especially considering that the city is built on top of its water sources. We are at an advanced stage in producing the legally required Local Environment Action Plan, which is a document that advocates wetlands preservation, among other environmental issues,” he said.
Mr Ruwende said the action plan is a local plan that councils develop for the management of the environment in areas under their jurisdiction.
“Local authorities are mandated, as stated in Section 95 of the Environmental Management Act (CAP 20:27), to develop these plans,” he said.
Department of Civil Protection Unit deputy director Ms Meliqiniso Sibanda said while they offer emergency assistance to people living in wetlands, they also encourage them to relocate to better areas.
“There is a long-term plan of flats that are being built in Dzivaresekwa for those who are in Budiriro wetlands. For short-term remedies, we offer camping tents and foodstuff to affected people.
On February 2, the World Wetlands Day will be celebrated under the theme “Restoration”.
It is hoped the day will allow Zimbabweans to reflect on what needs to be done to restore the country’s wetlands for a sustainable future.
Twitter: @tdrusike
