Home not so sweet home for some

every block of Geneva area in Harare’s Highfield high-density residential neighbourhood are an indication of good times gone by.

Children aged between five and seven play house and the boys taking up the role of fathers sit in the motionless ramshackle cars waving their “wives” goodbye as they “drive off to work”.
The cars have been at the same spot since their owners abandoned them in the early eighties after they broke down and went beyond repair.
They are rusty, have endured the harsh weather elements and are visible from every angle of the residential area.

Just like the ramshackle cars, Geneva Hostels have seen better times and now are in a state of decay, which is a dire concern for the overcrowded occupants.
Almost everyone talks about both old cars and hostels as they walk past, but no one has had the courage move them to a better place.

What separates the two is that while the cars have been abandoned, the hostels still remain home to more people than they were designed to accommodate, putting a lot of strain on their ageing infrastructure.
The frame of mind of the residents tells a story of despair, anger at the Harare City Council who they blame for neglecting them.

One of the residents Mashioti Gwavava is a bitter 49-year-old man.
He has been staying in the hostels since 1982, has children aged 16, 14, 10 and a wife who all stay in his rural home.

The one tiny room he stays in is not enough for all of them; he has been forced to stay apart from his family, hence his anger.
Living like a bachelor 31 years after the country attained independence, Gwavava only hopes that one day he will wake up in his own home.
“The major problem is sharing one small apartment with two other families. There is no room to sit. We could have had the interview in my room but we cannot because it is overcrowded.

“We cannot have it in the kitchen because I share it with others and they might not be comfortable,” said Gwavava.
There are 39 housing blocks, with each block having nine doors. Behind every main door there are three families having one tiny room to each. They share one kitchen, meaning each person has to keep his or her kitchen utensils and food in the bedroom. Only stoves are in the kitchen as keeping the other stuff may result in theft accusations.

The toilets, now rundown, are outside and are shared by at least three families each.
Every month, Gwavava parts with US$45 to the City of Harare and so do the other two families he shares the house with.
He handed his application to the City of Harare in July 2008 and has been on the housing waiting list. Since making the application, Gwavava has been renewing it every year.

“We want stands so that we can build our own homes. This is the only solution to our problems. We have been living under squalid conditions for long,” complained Gwavava.
Another resident, who wanted to identify herself only as Amai Precious said she has been staying in the hostels since 1981 and the living conditions are deplorable.
Unlike Gwavava, Amai Precious, her husband and three children aged 12, 9 and six sleep in one room. Her husband has tuberculosis and she fears spreading the disease to their children.

“He has been coughing a lot and was diagnosed with tuberculosis three months ago. We cannot send the children to our rural home in Muzarabani because the nearest schools are about 15 kilometres away.
“I have been on the housing waiting list since 2006 and just hope that one day I will own a house,” she said.
Amai Precious and Gwavava are not alone; about 1 300 other residents face similar or even worse accommodation challenges. Under normal circumstances one family should use one apartment comprising kitchen and the three other rooms currently being shared.

Most of the residents said they have given up on decent housing.
In March this year forwarded a petition to the City of Harare to address this issue but nothing has materialized yet. They just wait for a response, and hope it will be a positive one.
The residents say before independence, the Geneva hostels just like the Shawasha and Matapi Flats in Mbare among others were meant for bachelors only.

However, after independence, due to extreme poverty and rural to urban migration, there was increased demand for accommodation. But the current living conditions have become unbearable.
“Currently, we are living in squalid conditions. The conditions are dehumanising and pose a health threat to the community. Eight people share a small single room.
“Diseases like TB and other chest infections have become prevalent in the hostels. All this is being fuelled by the poor accommodation facilities. The conditions that we live with our children are bound to have a negative effect on socialization,” complained Amai Precious.

She revealed that residents are demanding that the hostels be transferred to family accommodation, meaning that the three rooms and kitchen will be allocated to one family while the other two families will be allocated residential stands.
“We believe that this will improve living and sanitation conditions at the hostels.

“The majority of the residents are unemployed and cannot afford to pay the exorbitant rates being charged by the City of Harare.
“Bills continue to accrue since the introduction of the multi-currency system in January 2009.
“For example, it started at US$4 in 2009 per room and now in 2011 they are as high as US$45 per room. Harare should start listening to the people and slash the current amounts and charge at most US$10.

“As Geneva residents, we feel that our debts should be cancelled, and start afresh,” she said.
Geneva Hostels were constructed in 1976 and named after the conference convened to negotiate Zimbabwe’s independence.
The accommodation problems in Highfield and other areas in Harare and countrywide have become synonymous with housing shortages.

Urban Planning expert Mr Percy Toriro said at the moment, no institution has the capacity to provide mass housing.
“At the moment, no institution has the capacity to build a complete house. In order to provide mass housing, the strategy is to provide serviced stands. Generally, Zimbabweans are enterprising people. Zimbabweans have proved that if you give them stands no matter how poor they are, they can end up building a proper house that anyone can be proud of. Examples include areas like Warren Park and Glen View among others,” he said.

Mr Toriro said when the economy improves and sufficient mortgage financing is available, then institutions can consider construction of full houses.
“Other institutions that hold public funds like pension funds are also avenues to consider funding mass housing,” added Toriro.
He revealed that there is also need to consider the Harare Master Plan, which advocates for policy of densification.
“The advantage is that it utilises existing infrastructure because if you go out you will need new sewer and water pipes, construct new roads and schools etc. The idea is to identify open spaces within existing building areas. For instance, old buildings in the Kopje area can also be demolished and replaced by high rise compact developments that provide for more people,” added Toriro.

Mr Toriro said another solution to the housing problems is to develop a lot of housing near the city centres as this would also cut down on transport problems.
“For example, in Maputo and Beira in neighbouring Mozambique accommodation is on top of office blocks. We need to look at the way to integrate shops, offices, accommodation and in the same vein solve transport shortages,” he said.

Government has signed a number of international commitments to provide decent accommodation for all and those without houses hope for change each time this happens.
Many home seekers had hoped that with the coming of the inclusive Government and the dollarisation regime, things would be better for them.

The Government mirrored this optimism when former Minister of National Housing and Social Amenities Fidelis Mhashu said Government would prioritise housing provision in its reconstruction efforts.
Addressing a Press conference on the sidelines of the 22nd Session of the Governing Council of UN-HABITAT, the former housing minister said Zimbabwe, which was just coming out of a deep political crisis accompanied by hyperinflation, was doing its best to recover.

“In order to jumpstart this mammoth task the new government has adopted the ‘Short-Term Recovery Programme’ which spells out the sectors that need urgent action. Housing is one such sector that has been prioritised,” he said back then.

The former minister disclosed that the Government required about US$10 billion for its recovery and said they were ready to engage with international partners towards that endeavour. But even though all these promises were made not much has come to address the situation.

Last year, the Ministry of Housing and Social Amenities exhausted the US$10 million it was allocated by Treasury as seed money for housing development.
Housing and Social Amenities Minister Giles Mutsekwa said the funding had been committed and his ministry would go back to Treasury to ask for additional funds to finish ongoing housing projects.

Presently, the City of Harare has a backlog of 700 000 housing stands mainly for low-income earners and has failed to satisfy demand for stands and decent and affordable housing.
The National Housing Development Trust last week said there is a huge backlog for people looking for housing.

“Housing is not a luxury but a right that every human being must have access to. The property market is one clouded by controversy as people are duped and some developers fail to develop stands even after taking money from prospective home seekers to that effect,” said NHDT chief executive officer Mr Energy Mutodi.

NHDT recently acquired US$2,8 million worth of earth moving equipment from China in an investment expected to accelerate housing delivery in Harare.
“We have since decided to speed up delivery of housing stands to our members by having to secure lines of credit and acquire earthmoving equipment from China.

“The challenge that is being faced by most land developers in Zimbabwe and that we have been facing as well is the cost of hiring earthmoving equipment.
“Secondly, some of the earthmoving equipment that is available in the country is now past its sell by date. If on site the equipment breaks down and the clearing of land for roads and other infrastructure then becomes a challenge and we fail to meet our set deadlines in providing stands.

“We have since received the first consignment of some of the earthmoving equipment and it is my hope that with the delivery of the equipment we will be in a position to complement Government efforts to provide housing to civil servants and Zimbabweans at large,” said Mr Mutodi.