Last week we witnessed demolition of houses in Belvedere with bulldozers relentlessly cutting through structural walls, perimeter walls, septic tanks which had been in place for some time.
Houses worth thousands of dollars were ravaged to the ground as the city council claimed the occupants had built on their land.
Harare mayor was quoted stating there was no need to regularise on illegal land, a statement that shows how ruthlessly Harare is run.
No one warrants to have their properties demolished as long as there is a window of opportunity to negotiate on regularisation considering the costs involved in construction.
Many people have applied for council land and some have been patiently renewing their waiting list number but nothing has come to fruition.
The land is corruptly allocated to friends, relatives and those who can grease the hands of the executives, leaving the poor in desperation for long.
If the land belonged to council and would be allocated to some applicants at some later date, why not just regularise and get the necessary revenue that the local authority is in dire need of?
The Local Government and Public Works minister Daniel Garwe was on national television days after as he distanced himself from the demolitions.
- Demolition of houses an act of inhumanity
Keep Reading
If Harare City Council can go ahead with decisions to demolish without the blessing of the parent ministry, then that is tantamount to sabotage and is clearly an act of cruelty.
If the minister was telling the truth, we should now be worried that there is a hidden hand in the Local Government ministry that is working to discredit the government.
National Development Strategy 1 is ending just 12 months from now and at least 220 000 new housing units should be established by the end of 2025 and one million units by 2030.
With this inhumane behavior of demolitions, we cannot be seen making four steps forward then six steps backwards yet we expect to archieve all our targets within the stipulated time.
We wait to see the punishment that the Local Government ministry is going to unleash on the errant mayor and his director for planning if really they acted upon themselves to bring misery on the tens of residents whose houses were demolished.
It should come a time when office bearers are held responsible for the costs involved in construction and demolitions especially with unilateral action as espoused by the parent ministry.
All of us should be considerate as we execute our duties but being overzealous because you have just been lucky to win a council seat riding on opposition politics’ so-called urban popularity, does not give you indeterminable powers to strangulate others.
I do not condone what the mayor did especially now that the rains have started. People should not regret to be Zimbabweans in their own country.
I want to personally thank the Vice-President, Kembo Mohadi for finally standing firm to stop the demolitions.
The reaction could have come lately but it was applauded as the arrogant mayor had already promised to clean Harare with more demolitions.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa should know many people are living in anguish because their homes are being demolished in farms, towns and cities on a daily basis.
Does the ruling party not have a Local Government department that needs to be consulted by the parent ministry of when such radical decisions of demolitions are made?
We hear the party is more supreme than the ministry. so why does the ministry take its own decisions that even surprise the vice presisent? Is this not an act of insubordination?
There was commotion in Chinhoyi’s Citrus Farm few weeks ago when demolitions were carried out at a farm said to belong to one Phillip Chiyangwa and the occupants have been there for over 20 years.
Demolitions were there at the contentious Warwick Farm near Lake Chivero where veterans of the liberation struggle were settled since the time of land reform.
The farm is said to have been fraudulently changed to private property despite it having been gazetted by government earlier on. Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission has now put Warwick Farm under the radar.
Such corruption should be nipped in the bud and perpetrators should be brought to book.
My advice is wherever there are supposed to be demolitions, investigations should be done why other people need to be removed.
In most cases, we realise there is massive corruption going on around the properties.
Investigate how Citrus Farm was acquired, investigate how Warwick Farm was acquired and many more pieces of land!
