adminNobleman Runyanga
Correspondent
When President Mnangagwa returned from his annual break at the beginning of this month, he had to deal with two key national issues, the Covid-19 pandemic and the flooding in urban areas such as Chitungwiza, Gweru, Harare and Mutare due to the chaotic allocation of residential stands by the local authorities.
Regarding the flooded residential areas created at undesignated pieces of land such as wetlands, water courses and other areas, the President expressed concern over the illegal expansive construction in wetlands, river basins and the construction of houses without the provision of requisite infrastructure such as road, water, sewer and electricity.
The flooding was an indictment on the successive MDC councils which have presided over the reduction of Zimbabwe’s once very beautiful and well-planned cities and towns into chaotic slum-like urban settlements.
The President did not mince his words about the way the MDC-dominated urban local authorities have acquitted themselves since 2000.
He pointed out that “the current urban local authorities have all failed us.”
The floods that affected Chitungwiza’s Unit N extension near zaoga, Unit A extension, the area along Duri River, Unit M, Pagomba area in Zengeza 4, and in Manyame as well as some parts of Budiriro in Harare and other cities exposed the blatant disregard for basic town planning rules by the towns’ leaders.
In Chitungwiza, for example, most of the affected areas such as Pagomba and Unit A Extension are wetlands and watercourses, which were left undeveloped when the town was planned in the 1970s and 1980s.
They served to drain the largely residential town. This is what happens when town planning is commandeered from professionals and handled by corrupt opposition politicians and local authority executives who are driven by the desire to line their pockets.
Politicians, who included the recently arrested former Chitungwiza Ward 25 councillor, Fredrick Mabamba, literary ran a scheme under which he would identify pieces of land, sub-divide them, allocate stands, and stand numbers and use willing municipality workers to integrate the stands into the municipality’s system, but not without some of his stand numbers duplicating existing ones elsewhere in the town.
MDC councillors also ran similar schemes, which saw them parcelling out residential stands at undesignated areas such as under power lines, over sewer lines and in some cases, on roads.
While the allocation of stands on undesignated land is reflective of the lack of land for residential expansion, the way the councillors went about resolving the challenges brings to the fore two key issues — their poor calibre and their readiness to use the land shortage to corruptly enrich themselves at the expense of the residents and ratepayers who vote them into office.
Former Harare Mayor, Bernard Manyenyeni in August 2015 described his fellow MDC councillors as “functionally illiterate,” sentiments which had also been expressed by his predecessor, Muchadeyi Masunda, who questioned the quality of the councillors.
Chitungwiza’s land shortage challenge just required the local authority to write to central Government seeking more land for expansion.
Central Government realised this and gave the municipality two farms across the Nyatsime River to the south of the town namely Braemar and Longlands in 2013.
Due to the poor calibre of the councillors and the complicit nature of the town managers, 15 000 residential stands were created and sold. The project was characterised by double allocations, resulting in the land being invaded as they sold more stands than the available land. Even reducing the stand sizes did not help. Many homeseekers unfairly lost out and many councillors and municipal executives criminally gained.
In other cities such as Bulawayo and Gweru some senior MDC members used the councillors to cut illegal land deals for their own benefit.
In Gweru, MDC-Alliance Harare Central legislator, Murisi Zwizwai was sold a 5 407 square metre stand in Randolph Phase 1 for Z$12 437 when the market price for such land was over US$50 000.
In Bulawayo, councillors such as Shilla Musonda and former councillor, Gift Banda are synonymous with abusing their offices to access or sell municipal land.
The results of these land shenanigans include poor quality of life for the residents who buy the stands as most of them are not developed and do not have basic infrastructure such as schools and surfaced roads.
This results in them crowding the facilities at the nearby residential areas.
Residents of Nyatsime have to make do with a makeshift bridge to access the rest of Chitungwza and Harare and their lot is worsened during the rainy season when the Nyatsime River floods.
It is against this background that most affected people welcomed the President’s commitment to improve urban people’s quality of life through rectifying the mess created by successive MDC councils, land barons and municipal managers in Zimbabwe’s cities and towns. Most people had given up hope of ever living in decent urban spaces and had surrendered themselves to the fate of slum-like urban environments which have become the hallmark of the MDC councils’ poor stewardship of Zimbabwe’s cities and towns.
The President’s plans have revived hope in people that modern and clean towns and cities are possible. Modern, clean and hospitable urban spaces make it easy for the local authorities to market them to would-be investors and residents. Investors increase economic activity in urban areas which would go some way in turning around the country’s economy.
The President’s push to correct the urban planning mess and build better cities and towns improves the quality of the residents’ lives in line with his Vision 2030.
It was relieving to hear the President announcing that unlike the previous administration, which arrested people such as Mabamba many times without convicting him, this time around, such social misfits would be placed where they belong — in jail.
The cherry on top of the cake was the announcement that the Government would force the land barons to compensate their victims.
Yes, it gives one satisfaction to see such people being jailed, but the hundreds of thousands who lost millions of United States dollars would be very happy to get some compensation.
Going forward, the victims of land schemes need to report all land barons to the police.
Reporting them is one thing and securing convictions is another. What makes the difference is the availability of irrefutable evidence.
They need to have their full paperwork in place. This includes signed agreements of sale and receipts for the monies paid towards the purchase price of the property at stake. The President made the first move. It is now up to the victims and other stakeholders to support the project.
In future, the nation expects tighter monitoring of the activities of urban local authorities by central Government to prevent the Chitungwiza scenario.
The Second Republic inherited many urban areas legacy issues.
Going forward, it should be proactive and prevent the occupation of wetlands under its watch. Instead of waiting for that to happen it should provide more land for the expansion of cities and towns on time.
In Chitungwiza, for example, the authorities could commence to set in motion the incorporation of more neighbouring farms such as Dunnotar, Cawdor, Tantallon and Edinburgh into the Chitungwiza Municipality, so that the urban area can be re-planned into a modern satellite town complete with industrial parks and other infrastructure which supports economic growth and the improvement of the quality of the livelihoods of the residents.
The essence of the President’s message to urban dwellers was that great urban life is possible. It, however, takes the Government, the local authorities, residents and homeseekers to work together.
Online Reporter