The Sunday Mail
Tendai Chara
The Government’s decision to relocate the capital city to Mount Hampden, which is located 18 kilometres northwest of Harare, has breathed life in the formerly sleepy Zvimba East.
The new Parliament Building — expected to be the nucleus of the new settlement — is already nearing completion.
Thousands of stands have been serviced in Nyabira, while more land is earmarked for commercial and industrial development.
A recent visit to the area by The Sunday Mail Society showed that the Government’s dream of building a modern city is fast becoming a reality.
Although the preliminary masterplan shows that the envisaged city will swallow Nyabira, Mt Hampden and parts of Mazowe, the impact of the project is already being felt in surrounding areas such as Royden, Muzururu and Lilfordia.
It has triggered a scramble for both agricultural and residential land.
Until recently, Royden, Muzururu and Lilfordia, which fall under Ward 25 of Zvimba Rural District Council, were only sleepy farming communities where no meaningful activities took place.
Ruzai Muchaurawa, the local councillor, said the area is swamped by people seeking land.
“Since the announcement that the capital city will be moved to nearby Mt Hampden, there has been a steady rise in the demand for land in this ward. The number of people who are interested in opening businesses in the business centres is overwhelming,” he said.
“This ward now boasts of prestigious private schools such as Afro Bank and there was a scramble for business stands at all the five growth points that we established in our ward. Some people want land for farming. This development has given us a lifeline.
“We have people who applied for land to construct clinics and an abattoir, and several non-governmental organisations have written to us seeking land for various developmental projects.”
In the past year alone, five private schools were opened in the ward and a number of Chinese businesspeople have invested in the district.
For Hope Madhumbu, the emerging new city in Mt Hampden has had a life-changing impact.
“I have a farm near Lilfordia, but I used to stay in Dzivaresekwa. There was no reliable transport to take us to and from Harare. Due to the economic activities, the roads are now busy and I am now commuting to my workplace in Harare from my farm every day,” said Madhumbu.
Local farmers have since opened new markets to sell their produce in areas like Dzivaresekwa and Kuwadzana, among others.
However, the recent developments have brought with them their fair share of misery.
With increased construction activity in Mt Hampden, sand poachers are descending on the heavily silted Muzururu River, which is located about 15 kilometres south of the new city.
Some locals are being paid to dig and load the sand into trucks.
These activities have resultantly damaged the road that links Lilfordia with Kirkman Road.
“As you can see, this road is badly damaged. It takes us almost an hour to drive from Matombo to Lilfordia — a 10-kilometre distance. Something must be done,” Eddington Mbudzi, who resides in Sunnyside, said.
Traditional leaders are disturbed by the concomitant rise in social vices.
“We have people who are coming here to engage in criminal activities. The number of robberies, cases of stock theft, prostitution and murder are rising with each passing day. We used to live a peaceful life up until these people started coming in,” Pasi Kawanzaruwa, a village head and custodian of the sacred Nharira Hills, said.
Some individuals, he added, had camped at the base of Nharira Hills with the intention of establishing a quarry-mining operation.
“Some of the companies that are coming here do not respect our cultural traditions. I was shocked when a company started quarry mining at the sacred Pfobvo Hills.”
Farmers that use Porta Road are having an uneasy relationship with a mining company whose trucks are alleged to be destroying the road.
As the new city takes shape, there are expectations authorities would move in to facilitate orderly development.
