Online Reporter
The Herald, 24 June 1986
MORE than 700 serviced stands in Harare’s low-density suburbs are now being allocated in the biggest land deal for such housing in Zimbabwe for more than 10 years.
Harare Town Clerk Cde Edward Kanengoni confirmed to The Herald yesterday that the allocation of the stands, all serviced several years ago, was now in “full swing” with offers being made to those on a waiting list of qualified applicants.
The council has land for more than 5 000 more stands in low-density suburbs. The present allocation concentrates on the suburbs of Milton Park, Belvedere, Borrowdale Park. Officials of the valuator and estates division in the town clerk’s department are visiting one of the suburbs for a morning each day this week to show those who have been made an offer where boundary markers are placed.
Cde Kanengoni said the allocation process was not instantaneous and some on the waiting list had made alternative arrangements, or did not have the money or guarantee they expected or were moving to another town.
The stands range in price from about $1 850 for those in Marimba Park to more than $5 000 in Borrowdale Park and range in size from just under 1 000m2 to more than 2 500m².
The largest stand on the list is a 3 705 m³ stand in Borrowdale. Private individuals have to pay a deposit of 10 percent with the balance over one year and a minimum deposit fixed at $250. Building has to start within 12 months and should be completed within 18 months.
Unlike high density suburbs, where there has always been a shortage of houses and where several major schemes, such as Kuwadzana and proposed scheme for the south-western corner of the city, low density housing has had its ups and downs.
There was a building boom in the late 1960s and early 1970s in these suburbs, almost all of which were reserved for whites through the racial laws. During this boom plots serviced by both the municipality and private sector were serviced and sold in a number of schemes.
Lessons for today
- In 1986, the process described was council-controlled transparent waiting lists. This was direct allocation by municipal officials. Today, land allocation still happens, but it is no longer done in the same straightforward way.
- Private developers and “land barons” are now heavily involved. Many stands are now allocated through, private developers, housing cooperatives, informal actors often called “land barons”. These groups sometimes sell land without proper approval, allocate stands outside official council systems then profit from desperate home seekers.
- Estate agents and middlemen are common now unlike the 1986 system, where council dealt directly with people, now agents act as intermediaries. People rarely get land directly from council without going through someone.
- Council allocations still exist (but limited). Local authorities still allocate some stands and maintain waiting lists but then the process is often slow because demand is far higher than supply. Many people turn to private or informal options instead.
- Historical inequality still shapes housing. Low-density suburbs were once reserved for whites. After independence, there was an attempt to redistribute access. Land and housing policy must correct past inequalities without creating new ones.
