Emulate President, housing co-ops urged

Speaking at a ceremony to hand over title deeds to Hatcliffe Extension Housing Co-operative Society, Small to Medium Enterprises and Co-operatives Development Minister Sithembiso Nyoni said President Mugabe played a critical role in the initiation of co-operatives in 1980 as a strategic way of ensuring that the poor had access to decent housing and other income generating activities.

“We have a President who is a visionary. He is the engineer and architect of the co-operative movement. He initiated co-operatives so that people like you and I can come together and make our lives better,” she said.

“President Mugabe has never betrayed the poor. He has remained there for you and has always put the interest of the poor at the forefront of the country’s development policies.”

She urged housing co-operatives to go a step further by embracing indigenisation and economic empowerment policies to help improve their livelihoods.
“Co-operatives have the capacity to venture into business after successfully completing their housing projects,” she said.

“If you could build all these houses, why can you not build a supermarket or a crèche and school and earn an income.
“You have provided yourselves with shelter. Now you should aim at improving your livelihoods by embarking on income generating projects as a group or as individuals.”

She said her ministry was ready to support such endeavours with training and other critical needs. Minister Nyoni said the completion of the housing project was the epitome of empowerment which placed the needs of the poor at the centre of development.

“This, indeed, is the epitome of empowerment where even the marginalised have taken it upon themselves to grab the bull by the horns and unite to fight for a common cause. This proves beyond any reasonable doubt that co-operatives are the best model for human development,” she said.

She appealed to the City of Harare to avail land for housing projects that target the poor.
Hatcliffe Extension Housing Co-operative was formed in 1994 and has a membership of 216 people who are mostly former slum dwellers.