The ManicaPost
Abel Zhakata Senior Reporter—
Mutare City Council is headed for an ugly collision with more than 400 families who illegally settled on an open space in Chikanga high density suburb as the latter has sought an enforcement order to evict the squatters.While the municipality is processing the relevant papers to demolish the shacks, the illegal settlers revealed last week that they were staying put on the land which they said was rightfully theirs.
The irate illegal settlers said they found themselves in this housing predicament because of the actions of corrupt housing officials at the Civic Centre who double allocated their stands in Federation Housing Scheme in Mutare leaving them homeless.
Mutare mayor, Councillor Tatenda Nhamarare, said the local authority was not going back on its resolution to demolish the shacks.
He said no amount of intimidation would stop council from demolishing the illegal settlements which are posing serious health hazards to surrounding communities.
“We are going ahead to demolish the shacks if the illegal settlers don’t take heed of our call to vacate that land on their own. Council resolved to take that legal route and nothing will stop us. Those people came from somewhere and the best they must do is to go back where they hail from.
“They might say this and that, but my advice to them is that they should follow correct procedures to apply for stands from the local authority and not to allocate themselves land like they did. We don’t want lawlessness,” he said.
Mutare City Council, through its acting director of engineering and technical services, Mr Alfred Maenzanise, published enforcement and prohibition orders to the illegal occupiers.
The orders are in terms of the Regional, Town and Country Planning Act (Chapter 29:12)
The municipality said the families were illegally occupying stands 4483, 4484 and 6808 Chikanga and a portion of the Railway Servitude.
a“This order will come into operation on December 31, 2016 . . . therefore take note, you as the occupiers and users of illegal structures on the said stands, that in terms of Section 34 you are ordered to discontinue forthwith the illegal occupation of the said stands; cease using the illegal structures thereon for human habitation purposes and any other illegal purpose; demolish all illegal structures erected without permission on the said stands or properties and remove the debris, bricks, timber, any material and rubbish arising from the demolition of these illegal structures.”
The news crew on Tuesday visited the illegal settlers who rubbished council manoeuvres.
Mrs Ropafadzo Gova said council must come out clean before demolishing their properties.
“Don’t take us for fools. We came to settle here for a reason. We are beneficiaries of the Federation Housing Scheme in Dangamvura, but we were pushed to settle here because of double allocations done by corrupt council officials. We are in possession of agreement of sale documents which show that we are bona-fide beneficiaries of stands.
“We are going to fight till the end. That mayor and his councillors must sober up and not engage in cheap politics.
“For more than a decade we are fighting to claim what is ours and the local authority is not doing anything yet all these problems emanated from the Civic Centre,” she said.
Spiwe Chikwava said the municipality must rationalise their stay and parcel out stands to them.
“Can’t you see that no-one is going to move from this place? Surveyors must come and peg stands for us and not what they are planning to do. They will not win the war,” she said.
Martha Mhlanga said the issue of the illegal settlement posing a health hazard was far-fetched because pollution and raw sewerage was flowing more in established surrounding settlements of Sakubva and Chikanga than at the squatter camp.
“Since you came here did you see any raw sewerage? Did you see any litter? Did you smell anything funny? You didn’t because we are generally smart. So the mayor must not tell us that we are a health hazard, yet he is failing to collect garbage in the locations. He is failing to rehabilitate burst sewerage pipes. We are not going anywhere,” she said.
In February 2012 the local authority failed to carry out the same exercise in Dangamvura after about 1 000 families illegally settled themselves in the Federation area.
Up to now the illegal settlers are still there putting pressure on already depleted social services enjoyed by adjacent established communities.
Efforts by the local authority to demolish the shacks then turned violent with the affected families exchanging blows with municipal police officers who were summoned to destroy the houses.
Several people were arrested over the skirmishes.
Over the year, the local authority published notices in the Press directing the beneficiaries to vacate the stands but to no avail.
The notices stated that the occupation was illegal since there is no council permission and that the emerging settlements do not meet the provisions for the operative building by-laws, the Public Health Act and the Housing Standards Act.
The reasons were that the stands are not serviced, there is no sewerage reticulation system, no piped water supply and that the housing structures construction does not meet requirements.
