adminPardon Gotora Features Correspondent
Housing provision has remained one of the Government’s priorities since Independence in 1980. The country’s the housing backlog is estimated at 1,25 million housing units which have indisputably proved to be a toll order to be single-handedly tackled by the Government (both central and local government).
There is, however, political will at the highest office in the land to fight homelessness as witnessed by the creation of the housing portfolio at Cabinet level and the housing projects and programmes that have been commissioned by President Mugabe in the years gone by.
There have also been continuous reviews of the attendant housing policies and legislation, for instance, the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) which recognises housing as a basic human right.
The new economic blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation also seeks to foster the delivery of decent housing under the Social Services and Poverty Eradication Cluster.
However, just like any other socio-economic pillar in the country, housing has continually been affected by inadequate funding due to the prevailing economic sanctions.
A lot of housing projects have been stalled due to resource constraints, prompting authorities and beneficiaries to think outside the box and try to introduce policies that encourage participation by other stakeholders, particularly the communities.
This has come by way of recognising that Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) play a critical role in the provision of low cost housing.
Government, in its 2012 National Housing Policy, states that “Community-Based Organisations have proved to be key actors in housing delivery in Zimbabwe . . .Their activities have emphasised forging of vertical and horizontal partnerships with Government both at central and local authority levels as well as the private sector anchored on community or social mobilisation especially of poor home seekers.”
The most critical issue is Government’s acceptance that CBOs do exist and must be involved in solving the country’s homelessness.
Previously, co-operatives were mainly concentrating on small to medium enterprises or business ventures.
Very few were involved in housing development and worse still Government had a negative perception on co-operatives, judging by their perceived incapacity to deliver and also issues to do with governance.
No one in the responsible offices had confidence in the potential of the CBOs considering that they were formed primarily by the “poor”.
Maybe Government would weigh the workload involved in the provision of off-site and on-site infrastructure compared to the potential revenue from the co-operatives.
The advantage with the pioneer housing co-operatives, those formed in the late 1980s, was that they could be allocated serviced stands where they would be expected to build houses for their members.
All the resources contributed by the co-operators were channelled towards the construction of the superstructure.
But still they were treated with a pinch of salt and it took long for them to be recognised though. The policy was mum on housing co-operatives hence, Government had a scapegoat in that there was no policy pronouncement on the same.
However, the fortunes twisted when the 2000 National Housing Policy came into effect.
This was the first step in the right direction for the co-operatives as it provided the window for them to interface with Government. But their role then was still marginal as the Government was still sceptical about their proficiencies.
They still had to throw caution to the wind before allocating any land to co-operatives.
Therefore, they had some mixed fortunes as they were well-received in some spheres, especially central government while not acceptable in the majority of local authorities. That is the reason why co-operatives were allocated very few stands to prove their mettle. Fortunately, those that were allocated had to prove a point to the authorities so as to convince.
Government later introduced a five year housing programme known as the National Housing Delivery Programme (NHDP-2004-2008) which further streamlined the role of co-operatives in leveraging resources for low cost housing provision.
Government also embarked on the Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle in 2005 which had two phases.
These were allocated under the programme known as Aided Self-Help Programme, where beneficiaries were encouraged to pool their resources together to service the stands with the requisite infrastructure before constructing superstructures.
The main reason why Government had to allocate unserviced stands was that they had run out of serviced stands, yet there were large tracts of land that had been acquired through the Land Reform Programme that began in earnest in the early 2000s.
The period 2005-2008 marked the major turnaround for co-operatives as they showed their character, defied all odds that were stacked against the country and left a mark in housing provision.
This was the period of sanctions-induced hyper-inflation that bedevilled the country, leaving the economy bleeding. Amid all this co-operatives managed to deliver more houses than the Government itself.
Those co-operatives that were near existing on-site services such as water and sewer reticulation completed their projects.
However, there are some that were allocated land that was far from, not just the on-site, but even the off-site infrastructure.
Harare South area is a good case study for such a scenario. Off-site services such as bulk water and sewer lines, sewer treatment ponds and roads require huge capital outlay which needs to be funded by Government under the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) and its development partners.
Ironically, the very co-operators who are largely low-income earners are expected to fund off-site infrastructure prior to dreaming of on-site and subsequent construction of superstructures. This is the reason why some of such projects take time to complete.
In 2009, Government sought to re-engage the housing sector in order to review and inform the national housing policy.
CBOs were given the platform to showcase their capabilities and lobby for policies and regulations that levelled the “playing field” for them to actively participate in housing delivery.
This culminated in the Revised 2012 National Housing Policy and the constitutionalisation of housing as a basic human right.
The level of acceptance has since improved in all local authorities.
The City of Harare, for example, has a section that deals with co-operatives housed at 1 Remembrance Drive in Mbare. There is improved confidence in housing co-operatives and the housing policy buttresses the same.
The major issue though is that Government needs to continuously monitor governance and capacity building.
The Ministry of Small to Medium Enterprises and Co-operatives Development who administer the Co-operatives Society Act needs to be on the lookout on issues to do with governance.
There are some “life” chairpersons in these co-operatives where there are no elections held to choose the new administration or to produce audited books.
There is also nepotism and corruption in the allocation of stands and lack of transparency and accountability in terms of resources utilisation.
Some of them have even gone to the extent of selling those stands yet they are not authorised to do so, elbowing out those who started the co-operatives.
- Pardon Gotora works as a Housing Officer in the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing. He writes in his personal capacity. His opinion and views must not be viewed as the views of the Ministry. For feedback please feel free to email on [email protected]
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