adminProsper Ndlovu Senior Reporter
LACK of vibrant economic activity at Dete Business Centre has become a cause for concern with scores of residents in the area preferring to live in pole and dagga structures as they are failing to take up housing stands offered by council.In an interview recently, Hwange Rural District Council engineer Mr Alic Mudenda said although council has availed housing stands for home seekers, there were no takers.
“There is no demand for housing stands here because the economic activity is low. As a council we have availed several stands in the high and medium density category but there are no takers and we are concerned about that,” said Mr Mudenda.
“We have about 500 housing units here that include Bote and Soweto compounds. We also have a section of thatched huts called Mutwe, which has about 140 units. A 200 square metre stand is sold for $2 000. The bulk of our residents are civil servants and ordinary people.”
Mr Mudenda said some of the people who were allocated stands under the Hlalani Kuhle/Garikai programme were still living in thatched huts and have not developed their stands.
During the tour it was observed that several houses in the Hlalani Kuhle/Garikai section were yet to be completed while scores of residents were living in huts.
The business centre has a population of about 6 000 people and the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) supplies water.
Mr Mudenda said a majority of the residents, except civil servants, were not employed and survived on doing some form of urban agriculture.
Most people in the area used to work for the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) when it was still vibrant while a handful are working for tour operators.
Mr Mudenda said the main economic activity was tourism in the form of game drives that are run by private tour operators. He said for a long time Dete has not been connected with electricity until recently, which made it difficult for the area to attract investment.
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Bongani Ndlovu