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Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
LOCAL authorities in the Midlands have complained about illegal sales and allocation of urban State land in the province which resulted in them losing millions of dollars in potential revenue from development levies.
Appearing before the Commission of Inquiry into the Sale of State Land in and around urban areas since 2005 at the Government Complex in Gweru on Monday, the local authorities said the sprouting of some illegal suburbs or settlements in and around areas of their jurisdiction was causing pressure on infrastructure.
Representatives of Gweru City Council, Shurugwi and Zvishavane Town Councils, Runde, Vungu, Tongogara and Chirumhanzu Rural District Councils appeared before the commission chaired by Justice Tendai Uchena.
Gweru Town Clerk, Ms Elizabeth Gwatipedza said her local authority, which has 33 000 houses on its books, was expecting an additional 14 000 houses from private land developers whom she accused of failing to support council in offsite and on-site infrastructure developments.
“We have several housing developers in Gweru who have set up settlements in areas such as Hertfordshire, Bucks Farm, Woodlands and Brooklands among others. These developers are not building schools, clinics, roads or putting up water and sewer reticulation infrastructure thereby putting pressure on council. We are pumping 60 megalitres of water a day which is no longer sufficient because of the increased population as a result of these new settlements without supporting off site infrastructure,” she said.
Ms Gwatipedza said in Woodlands suburb, the roads put by the developer were so narrow that council refuse collection trucks were failing to manoeuvre.
Vungu RDC chief executive officer, Mr Alex Magura said they were not consulted when the private land developers started developing stands in the district.
He said council had lost potential revenue in layout plans and design approvals.
“We are now working with City of Gweru so that we have a Memorandum of Agreement on how to tap from these private land developers because at the end of the day we have to provide services to these people,” Mr Magura said.
Zvishavane town council secretary, Mr Tinoda Mukutu said they had been taken to court by some private land developers to force them to approve their plans as well as provide services.
“Private land developers came and didn’t consult or involve us in their plans and now they are suing us demanding that we approve designs and plans yet we were prejudiced of potential revenue,” he said.
Tongogara RDC chief executive officer, Mr Brian Rufasha said illegal developments were rife in the area which was also prejudicing the local authority of thousands of dollars in potential revenue.
“We could have benefited from engineering services, designs approvals and various levies but we got nothing from these land developers,” he said.
Shurugwi Town Council secretary, Mr Solomon Siziba said they have 4 200 houses and were expecting over 3 000 from private land developers to be added onto the council list for services. He said such a development was not viable as infrastructure had not been developed by the private land developers.
“We have 4 200 housing stock and with the additional 3 000 houses from the land developers, pressure for social amenities will be just too much for our council yet we were not involved in any developments in parts of the suburbs that have been created. We want to develop an MoU to regularise these illegal developments,” Mr Siziba said.
Midlands Provincial Administrator, Mr Abiot Maronge said the coming up of several private land developers in the province had resulted in many challenges arising from the manner in which rural State land was allocated to individuals and corporates.
“Whilst it is a fact that the annexation of urban State land has now been brought to a halt in the areas concerned, there are still outstanding issues with respect to provision of municipal services and local governance in the areas concerned. It is therefore our hope that the Commission’s mission will assist us to bring finality to the various issues of concern,” he said.
Justice Uchena said individuals, councils and RDC’s affected by the sale of State land should come forward so that the Commison can come up with a comprehensive report that will assist in addressing the shortcomings.
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