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Yeukai Karengezeka Municipal Correspondent
Illegal structures on 25 wetlands or institutional stands, mostly in western or south-western Harare, will be demolished after Harare City Council obtained the required orders from the High Court. Harare Mayor Councillor Herbert Gomba, during his State of the City Address (SOCA) last week at Town House, said the council now had a programme to remove illegal settlers that had occupied institutional stands and wetlands,” he said.
The most affected areas include Eyestone, Crowborough Farm paddocks, Budiriro, Granville Estate, Kuwadzana 1, and Mufakose.
However, critics of the council’s town planning changes reckon that the council itself has also sold land and allowed development on land zoned for public open spaces or wetlands without going through the required processes to change use.
Clr Gomba said the local authority established a development section to deal with land issues.
“Due to the complications council has been facing with regard to demolishing illegal settlements, council capacitated the Development Control Unit to ensure swift reaction to land barons machinations for example the latest confiscation of graders and arrest of land barons in Westlea.
“We always issue warnings to home seekers to deal directly with council on land issues since we are the planning authority, not third parties,” he said.
Besides hammering illegal structures, the mayor wanted those with legal properties to get title deeds.
He advised residents in suburbs such as Mbare, Highfield, Glen Norah, Glen View, Tafara and Mabvuku to have their properties surveyed.
“We also encourage residents whose properties were never surveyed to approach the City so that we can survey the properties for them and hence enable them to get their title deeds.”
Meanwhile, in terms of housing allocation, council still has a backlog after 1 500 stands were allocated to applicants on the housing waiting list as at August this year.
“The city is deeply passionate about resolving the housing backlog. We are hoping to develop a new housing delivery model once we conclude the consultations for the Human Settlements Policy.
“About 1 500 stands were allocated to applicants on the housing waiting list as at August 2019 and this is not enough considering the magnitude of the deficit,” he said.
Clr Gomba said under the 2020 budget, council was planning to construct apartments or flats which can accommodate more people, while under the broader urban renewal programme, the flats in Mbare will be modernised and transformed into proper family units.
Online Reporter