The ManicaPost
Abel zhakata Senior Reporter
Government will ruthlessly deal with land barons and assist more than 10 000 families that were illegally settled in Mutare, Rusape and Chipinge in housing scandals that rocked Manicaland over the past two decades.
In a no-holds-barred meeting in Mutare yesterday, National Housing and Social Amenities Minister Daniel Garwe blasted local authorities for fuelling most of the illegal settlements by failing to come up with plans for housing development.
“We have no apologies to make when it comes to dealing with land barons,” said Minister Garwe.
“We want to clean up Mutare, it used to be a very beautiful city. Now it is the city of pit latrines and open wells. We must stop this. We shouldn’t protect the wrong people. Let us do what is right. Let us protect the general public, especially the 10 000 people who are now desperate after being conned. They need decent accommodation,” he said.
Minister Garwe said leaders of housing co-operatives must assist Government in setting things straight.
“If they resist our call to come and solve this mess, we will confront them head on. We want the institutional memory of all these illegal settlements so that we deal with them decisively. We need to clean up our beautiful cities. I understand Rusape is growing without any planning.
“Someone just wakes up and decides to build a house there. Let us stop issuing land to land barons. The land belongs to the State. If you don’t heed this call, Government will have to move in to protect the innocent,” he said.
The Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Dr Ellen Gwaradzimba, said the Gimboki and Federation housing schemes are presenting problems in Mutare, while in Chipinge her office is battling with a stands scandal that has seen many home-seekers losing their hard-earned money.
“In Mutare, we have land developers and land barons who duped residents through dubious housing co-operatives. In Gimboki South and Federation, people are building structures on undeveloped land. There is no road network, there is no electricity and there is no water but the residents are going ahead nonetheless.
“We have tried to find solutions to these illegal settlements, but up to now there has been no headway. In Chipinge, some youths were made to join a housing scheme which never produced anything,” said the minister.
Dr Gwaradzimba said illegal and unplanned settlements are a problem in the province.
“A lot of houses are mushrooming on unserviced land. We cannot allow that to continue happening. People cannot just build as they please,” she thundered.
Dr Gwaradzimba also encouraged authorities to read the riot act to both rural and urban local authorities so that only planned settlements are allowed to develop.
Mutare Town Clerk, Mr Joshua Maligwa admitted that council is failing to solve the Gimboki and Federation issues.
“These settlements are now eating into our budget because we supply water there and maintain roads, yet we are not collecting anything from them,” he said.
