The ongoing demolition of houses across Harare will not address the growing problem of mushrooming illegal settlements as it is targeting mostly victims of criminal networks that have been allowed to thrive for far too long.
Harare City Council began demolishing houses last week armed with court orders.
The capital has many illegal settlements, especially in Harare South where politically connected people took advantage of the chaotic agrarian reform programme to amass vast swathes of land.
Such land barons have been using their political connections to circumvent council regulations to build illegal settlements.
Some prominent people have been linked to the construction of houses on wetlands across the capital despite the practise being illegal.
Institutions such as the Environmental Management Agency have been caught napping in most cases as the illegal construction on wetlands goes unchecked.
In most cases, desperate home seekers unknowingly buy land or houses from the land barons only to be surprised by council demolition equipment as has been the case with some residents in Belvedere and Stoneridge areas.
The problem of land barons is more pronounced in Harare because of political interference by the ruling Zanu PF in the affairs of the city council.
Demolitions have been happening almost every year, but this has not helped to address the problem of illegal settlements.
It is high time that the local authority and government came up with strong measures to protect home seekers from the greedy land barons. Where possible, the authorities must consider regularising the settlements.
Those who are found selling housing stands in illegal settlements must be punished heavily and forced to compensate the people whose houses are demolished.
It is also the responsibility of the local authority to educate residents on processes to be followed in the construction of houses.
Council must be proactive instead of being reactive all the time when it comes to illegal structures.
The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission must also be involved to tackle the illegal settling of council land and bring the culprits to book.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa is sitting on a report by a commission of inquiry that was instituted to investigate the illegal selling of land post the agrarian reform and that information could be used to map out all irregular settlements in Harare in order to bring sanity to the housing sector.
Demolitions will only worsen the plight of Harare’s homeless people and will not deal with the root cause of the problem.