The provision of houses is one of the Second Republic’s key deliverables. Under the National Development Strategy 2, Zimbabwe’s five-year economic blueprint through 2030, the Government is targeting one million housing units, or 200 000 per year. The Sunday Mail’s REMEMBER DEKETEKE recently sat down with National Housing and Social Amenities Minister PROFESSOR PAUL MAVIMA to talk about Zimbabwe’s housing backlog, delivery targets, affordability, serviced land, financing and informal settlements, among other issues.
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Q: Harare’s housing waiting list has reportedly reached 300 000, after just 3 897 units were delivered over the past decade. What does this tell you about Zimbabwe’s national housing deficit, and how large is the backlog countrywide?
A: Important to note is the fact that the housing backlog is a moving target, particularly for urban housing, as a result of the country’s demographic configuration.
According to the 2022 Population and Housing Census report from ZimStat (Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency), our population growth rate stands at a minimum of 1,5 percent.
The case of Harare has to be understood in a broader context in the sense that it is the magnet of hope for all the surrounding local authorities in terms of opportunities. That alone gives a surge in housing demand and the supply is far outweighed by demand.
However, the figure of 3 897 units highlighted may not be a true reflection of houses delivered in Harare, because 90 percent of houses delivered under the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) were predominantly from the private sector such as banks, building societies, insurance and pension funds, private land developers and individual homeowners.
Q: What is the Government’s current national target for housing delivery, and how many units have actually been completed against that target over the past five years?
A: The current planning period is 2026 to 2030, which is the NDS2 period, and the national housing target is one million units for the five-year period, which translates to 200 000 units per year.
By the end of the second quarter, we were at 54,4 percent of the annual target, which also gives us 9,14 percent of the one million target. Suffice to say that, for the past five years under NDS1, the NDS1 target was met.
Q: Beyond constructing houses, how much serviced land is currently available for residential development and what is the Government doing to accelerate the provision of roads, water, sewerage system and electricity on that land?
A: Seventy-five percent of the housing delivered to date, as alluded to earlier on, are fully serviced stands.
The biggest Government contribution is the provision of a conducive environment through policy and the requisite legal framework.
The Zimbabwe National Human Settlements Policy (ZNHSP) has facilitated the provision of roads, water, sewer and electricity infrastructure before occupation.
The Government is providing land to private land developers and banks who have financial muscle to service the land through public-private partnerships (PPPs).
Q: With construction costs and household incomes increasingly disconnected, what is the Government’s concrete strategy for ensuring that new housing is genuinely affordable to low- and middle-income Zimbabweans rather than simply increasing the number of houses on the market?
A: First and foremost, affordability is subjective because it is relative to individual incomes and capabilities.
In countries where there seems to be relatively ultra-low-income housing units, the huge chunk is subsidised by the Government. However, a subsidy means that someone is paying on their behalf through taxes. As such, our economy is on a recovery path, although it is not yet in a position to provide such subsidies.
What pushes the costs up are mainly the costs of building materials, which are somewhat exorbitant.
The other push factor is that most settlements are far from bulk infrastructure, which require a huge capital outlay, and that also pushes costs up. One of the strategies that the ministry is pursuing to reduce costs is adoption and adaption of alternative building technologies.
Through a whole-of-Government approach, efforts are in place to make sure that we produce the required material locally, such as steel in Manhize, floor tiles in Norton and cement across the country.
Q: How does the Government intend to finance the scale of construction required to close the national housing gap, and what role will private developers, pension funds, financial institutions, local authorities and international capital play?
A: Housing delivery in Zimbabwe is private sector-driven; the Government just creates a conducive environment for private sector participation.
The Zimbabwe National Human Settlements Policy promotes a multiplicity of players in the sector.
The Government will continue to support the private sector through PPPs, prescribed asset status support, and also increasing the country’s shareholding in Shelter Afrique Development Bank to increase the country’s cap on lines of credit.
Q: Zimbabwe has seen the growth of informal settlements and unplanned housing as people struggle to access formal accommodation. What is the Government’s national policy for upgrading existing informal settlements while preventing the creation of new ones?
A: Zimbabwe is a developing nation; therefore, it is affected by the high rate of urbanisation.
One of the detrimental effects of a high rate of urbanisation is the huge demand for housing.
Since demand outweighs supply, there is bound to be housing shortage, which manifests in urban informality.
To address the urban informality, the Government, through the ZNHSP, adopted the regularisation of informal settlements strategy.
The same policy also banned parallel and incremental development.
This has managed to minimise new invasions. Through the “Call to Action: No compromise to Service Delivery”, which was launched by His Excellency, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, in 2023, all local authorities were obligated to produce master plans. All the local authorities complied and produced master plans which are at various stages of review and approval by our sister Ministry of Local Government and Public Works.
Q: Land administration and housing allocation have often generated concerns over transparency, multiple allocations and politically connected beneficiaries. What safeguards are now in place to ensure that housing land and completed units are allocated transparently and that ordinary applicants are not disadvantaged?
A: On land administration, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works launched the Urban State Land Management Policy in 2025, which streamlines land allocation and administration.
This will enhance transparency and accountability.
We also have our own housing allocation policy, which is meant to promote the same, complementing existing policies.
Multiple allocations are mostly found in housing cooperatives and to address issues related to that, the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprise Development is currently addressing the cooperative governance system. This will culminate in the beneficiary verification and redress of double and multiple allocations.
Q: Looking ahead to the end of the current Government programme, what measurable national housing targets should Zimbabweans use to judge the ministry’s performance — in terms of units built, land serviced and households actually moved into decent housing?
A: Zimbabweans can hold the ministry to account against three measurable national targets over the NDS2 period (2026-2030).
These include:
- Units delivered: Completed houses and fully serviced stands
The national target is one million housing units by 2030, which is 200 000 units a year. We have done this before: Under NDS1, we delivered over 1,16 million.
Delivery is only counted if it is liveable, so the measure is completed houses and fully serviced stands, with roads, water, sewer system and electricity in place before occupation, as the Zimbabwe National Human Settlements Policy requires. Government is also growing its own pool of housing for civil servants, through projects such as Dombotombo in Marondera, Beitbridge Redevelopment, Tynwald and Lupane. Citizens can track progress by the annual delivery figure against 200 000, and by the share of stands that are fully serviced.
- Informal settlements regularised, with tenure secured
This measures whether families are actually living in secure, decent housing. Regularisation covers settlements established before the November 2021 cut-off, on land fit for habitation, with in-situ upgrading and minimal relocation.
The sites include Epworth, Southlea Park, Hatcliffe Extension, Gimboki in Mutare and Cowdray Park in Bulawayo.
The measure is the number of settlements regularised and the number of title deeds issued under the Presidential Title Deeds Programme. Under that programme, 9 600 beneficiaries have signed up in Southlea Park and 3 118 in Epworth, Glenwood and Glenwood Extension.
Of the 21 081 beneficiaries of Government-enabled schemes, 3 823 deeds have been issued so far.
The target is 100 000 beneficiaries receiving title deeds by the end of the year. Land freed from settlement on wetlands, over 30 000 hectares, shows we are protecting the environment while doing this.
- Private sector participation and investment in housing
Housing delivery is private sector-driven, and the Government’s role is to create an enabling environment.
The measure is how much capital is mobilised through PPPs, commercial joint ventures, pension funds and insurers using prescribed asset status, and international lines of credit such as Shelter Afrique.
Under NDS1, over US$1 billion in housing finance was mobilised, against an initial projection of US$233,75 million, and the private sector injected a further US$1 billion in housing and social amenities.
For NDS2, the yardstick is more investment, and more of it reaching low- and middle-income households.
