admin
Fortius Nhambura Senior Features Writer
The monster stretched its claw, caught the corner of a roof of the incomplete house and tore the structure down. Two swing blows on the remaining structure and the house was left a heap of rubble.
In a matter of minutes, a lifetime’s worth of savings had been reduced to nothing.
Residents of Zengeza 5 watched in disbelief as the bulldozer destroyed“illegal” house after house.
They cursed the municipality for such “cruelty and senseless destruction of property.”
Then they decided enough was enough. They had to save their homes.
Quickly, they formed a human barricade around the machine and vowed to die in defence of their properties.
After an exchange of harsh words, the council team retreated but not without the “I will be back” threat made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger through the science fiction film “The Terminator”.
Many were, however, left in fear that one day council workers would return accompanied by riot police to fulfil their promise – that they would be back to complete their unfinished business.
This happened a fortnight ago, marking the commencement of the demolition of illegal homes in Chitungwiza.
According to the Municipality of Chitungwiza, the houses earmarked for demolition were either built on wetlands, on areas reserved for schools, clinics, cemeteries, churches, recreational facilities or under high voltage power cables or encroaching on roads.
To those who witnessed the 2005 Operation Murambatsvina, this was history repeating itself.
This time it was more painful as the housing stands had been allocated through cooperatives and council officials with the blessing of the Chitungwiza Town Council.
All the owners of the houses earmarked for destruction said they had council official receipts but wondered why the council was now saying the construction of the houses was illegal.
The residents said they would seek prosecution of cooperative and council officials for masterminding probably the country’s largest housing scam.
They are demanding council to explain how such a huge scam could go on right under its nose without it taking any notice. Residents argue that the culprits and council officials should be arraigned before the courts and sent to jail for abuse of office.
They say justice must be sought.
Government has recommended the demolition of more than 14 000 houses in Chitungwiza and Manyame Rural District councils as it moves to restore order in the country. Of these, 8 260 houses are in Chitungwiza.
Ironically, this is happening at a time when the country is faced with a huge housing backlog. There is now a curious play of trying to balance municipality building by-laws and the pressing need for housing accommodation.
The poor home-seeker is the major victim. Under the demolition exercise, thousands are definitely going to lose millions of dollars under the land scam that involved councillors, council officials and members of different political parties.
Under the scheme, cooperative leaders, council officials and councillors would process fake change-of-land-use papers and issue out fake stamped council receipts to hoodwink innocent people into purchasing stands on illegal sites.
What is most interesting is that the culprits are known and are notorious for other things among them land grabbing in Harare’s former dormitory town. But will the culprits be allowed to again go scot free and enjoy the money when thousands will be crying, people wonder?
Residents say Government should never allow these illegal land barons to go scotfree while punishing the beneficiaries, most of whom were in desperate need of accommodation. They said it was critical that law enforcement agencies probe the people behind the illegal allocation of stands and land use change.
Residents say failure to make the land barons account for their actions would only encourage those who hold higher offices in service departments to continue abusing their positions for personal gain.
“This is not the first time people have lost money through unscrupulous schemes created by people in high offices. If Government does not deal with these people it will put into doubt its anti-corruption drive. We are waiting to see what befalls these officials.
“I think what happened to former Town Clerk Godfrey Tanyanyiwa was a good start and most welcome for us people of Chitungwiza. The Government should not unnecessarily break the momentum if it hopes to win the trust of the people,” said Mushangwe.
Tenson Mujiri of Zengeza 4 whose house has been earmarked for demolition said once the unfinished structure is destroyed his family would be left with no choice but to relocate to their rural home in Buhera.
“My brother, that will be the end of the road, I will simply pack my bags and head kwaChigavakava in Buhera. I have used all my employment terminal benefits to construct this house and it is my only hope. I got this land through a registered cooperative, did everything to verify that indeed this piece of land was for housing. Council officials showed us papers for change of land use and we proceeded to build our houses. How come council now says this land was illegally gotten?
“It is unfortunate that the majority of the people who are fingered in the report like Ward 25 Councillor Fraderick Mabamba are associated with the ruling ZANU-PF. ZANU-PF must lead the way by removing from its ranks people who abuse authority to enrich themselves. Cllr Mabamba’s suspension was a move in the right direction but as residents we want prosecutions,” he said.
He said ZANU-PF needed to show those using the party name to engage in nefarious and corrupt that the honey moon is over.
Land baron Mabamba and others allegedly created 23 074 illegal stands and pocketed nearly US$20,5 million from unsuspecting home seekers.
Another victim, Mrs Melody Hweta, said council was to blame as it did not take action when it started seeing the illegal properties taking shape. Its quietness when council by-laws were being flouted is suspicious.
“Surely, why not move in to stop construction early? With council officials signature and council generated receipts who would have thought the stands were illegal. Surely where do you go to seek approval for a stand when the offer letter was coming from council.
“That is why it is important to make sure that culprits are brought to book. A clear message must be sent out there that embezzling public funds and illegal parceling of land leads to jail. This scam had the blessing of former housing director Ms Jemina Gumbo and her boss ex-Town Clerk Godfrey Tanyanyiwa and all those in the housing department. They must be held accountable for their actions,” she said.
Although the audit team led by Local Government, Public works and National Housing Deputy Minister Joel Biggie Matiza has recommended the arrest and prosecution of land barons who are mainly cooperatives and councillors and council officials, residents are not happy with the pace.
Cde Matiza said Government would not hesitate to remove illegal settlers but recommended that all affected people should have somewhere to go but no alternative land has been provided for owners of houses facing demolitions.
There is also no talk of compensation for those who will lose their homes.
Chitungwiza Progressive Residents Association director Mr Admire Zaya said all the former councilors, council management, mayors and town clerks in Chitungwiza should be arrested due legal processes started because they knew what was going on.
“There are two issues regarding the demolition of houses in Chitungwiza. First land barons should be arrested. Government should show some seriousness in dealing with this issue. There have been a number of investigations into the matter among the MDC-T that lead to all the councilors being fired and the Government probe that saw the firing former housing director Jemina Gumbo and arrest of Town Clerk Tanyanyiwa. The recent probe has agreed with the findings of the previous probes and that warrants action.
“Secondly, the municipality should follow the law by first approaching the High Court to get an order to execute its resolution. According to the law only when they are armed with the order and after providing alternative shelter for the people can there go on to demolish the houses,” he said.
MrZaya said inaction by central Government on implementing the recommendation of the Matiza led probe was not good for the country.
“Those implicated should resign or forced to resign to allow investigation leading to arrest. CdeChombo should move with haste correct this anomaly if he is to show the ministry seriousness in dealing with the Chitungwiza land scam.
Another residents association Chitungwiza Residents Association chairperson Mr Marvelous Khumalo said the demolitions were illegal as they are in contravention of section 74 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe which gives residents freedom from arbitrary eviction by stating that “no person may be evicted from their home or have their home demolished, without an order of court made after considering all the relevant circumstances.
“Instead council is to blame as it failed to superintend the land it has been given by the state. The residents cannot be punished for a council that was sleeping on duty. Where were the town clerk, council management and local government ministry when all this was happening?
“People were desperate for housing stands and cannot be punished for the council’s corruption and failure to deliver on its mandate. We demand action on the land barons and council officials who were behind the creation of illegal stands,” he said.
- Feedback to: [email protected]
Online Reporter