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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
GOVERNMENT has ordered local authorities to stop selling land to individual developers as most of them have shortchanged home-seekers by failing to service stands.
Land barons have been issuing stands that are unfit for human settlement as they are not connected to water, sewerage reticulation and roads.
They have been haphazardly constructing houses, failing to follow town planning measures and compromising Government’s vision of making the country achieve upper middle income status by 2030.
National Housing and Social Amenities Minister Daniel Garwe yesterday said Government will bring to book land barons while bringing in technical people to regularise the illegal settlements.
He was speaking in Bulawayo during meetings with local authorities from Matabeleland South and Bulawayo provinces.
Minister Garwe outlined his Ministry’s vision to local authorities.
He said Government was still focused on providing command housing as the national housing backlog has clocked 1,5 million.
Minister Garwe said Covid-19 among other natural disasters have affected Government in the construction of command houses.
To deliver the houses, the Minister said Government was partnering with financial institutions, who bring money while Government will provide land and money where necessary. Minister Garwe said local authorities should not parcel out land to bogus land developers as their failures were well documented. “Our plea to rural district councils and towns is that let us work together, please make land available for development purposes. Please stop now, the issuing of land to individual property developers. Government is against the issuance of land to general people masquerading as developers. All development should go through the Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities or if it is institutional accommodation through Public Works. We must go back home fully knowing that if we start transacting land with individuals we are committing a crime that can land someone in jail. This is not a threat but a statement of fact,” said Minister Garwe.
He said Government was already targeting land barons who short-changed members of the public through issuance of substandard stands, creating chaos in cities.
‘‘So, Government has taken a deliberate and critical position that land barons must be brought to book. We must now sanitise all informal settlements going forward and the Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities, Local Government and Public Works, the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage will work as a collective to make sure that we sanitise the illegal settlements. We are not going to demolish houses as home seekers have suffered a lot. We are going to bring in planners and engineers to design roads that suit the development that has taken place,” he said.
Minister Garwe said it was prudent for land barons to cooperate with Ministry officials when they come to regularise settlements.
He said it was important for Government to prioritise the construction of houses and social amenities as population growth is overwhelming the existing infrastructure.
Minister Garwe said water shortages and sewerage pipe bursts were evidence that the country needs to invest more in building new infrastructure.
Provincial Affairs and Devolution Ministers Abednego Ncube for Matabeleland South and Judith Ncube for Bulawayo attended the meetings. Also in attendance was Deputy Minister of National Housing and Social Amenities Yeukai Simbanegavi. — @nqotshili
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