Of infill stands, corruption

home industries were also supposed to be accommodated on these open spaces.
They also did not forget that densely populated areas needed breathing space and these open spaces ensured free circulation of air.
Was that not great wisdom and incomparable intelligence?
The year 2008 saw a new breed of councillors and council officials coming on board.
They were mandated to develop or prepare these open spaces to serve the required purposes.
It is very interesting how they are failing to accomplish the assignment given to them.
Some local authorities are being pushed by greed and their strong desire for money, hence the creation of “infill stands.”
Today the open spaces have disappeared and stands are filling up even the important wetlands.
The situation seems to continue unabated.
Open spaces that were left to serve as car parks, markets are teetering on the edge of a cliff and it takes only the slightest push to send them into extinction.
Councillors and council officials have proved to be that push and within a year so, there will be no open space left in Harare and Chitungwiza.
It all started in Chitungwiza and like cancer, the situation spread to other residential areas in Harare.
The situation is rife in Kuwadzana, where allocations of residential stands seems to be a never-ending phenomenon.
In Kuwadzana 6, a filling station is being constructed on a land previously serving as a football field.
The filling station was prioritised over recreation as the football pitch has less commercial value.
All open spaces in Kuwadzana 5 are now occupied with houses.
The bus terminus is the only open space left and it is now being used as a car park.
No more space is left for recreational purposes, markets or home industries and residents are left vulnerable to the effects of high unemployment rate.
As if the example that was demonstrated in several residential areas across the country was too strong to avoid imitating, residential stands have been allocated on an open space supposed to serve as a flea market in Kuwadzana Extension.
Mrs Shupikai Marowa explained how this new development is negatively impacting their community.
“They are constructing houses on the land initially used as a car park and market place.
“Most of the space is now occupied and residents have to find other alternatives if they want to park their cars.
“It is very unfortunate that our stands are too small and there is no space to park our vehicles and we only wish that council will come up with a solution to this problem,” she said.
She added that Kuwadzana Extension is one of the residential areas without recreational facilities and children do not have properly designated playing fields.
A school leaver, who identified himself as Blessed Tomu, expressed his concern over council’s misplaced priorities.
He explained how these open spaces can be used to accommodate home industries and markets.
“With the unemployment rate rising, our only hope of survival was pinned on the informal sector and the action taken by the council is meant to worsen our plight.
“What is more worrisome is the fact that these infill stands are not genuinely addressing housing problems because most of the beneficiaries have multiple properties.
“This move was taken with only one goal of making council officials rich at the expense of our rights as residents,” said Tomu.
A resident of Kuwadzana Extension, Mr Lameck Moyo, said as a result of the shortage of employment on the job market, residents are now relying on flea markets and home industries to eke out a living.
“Council is not prioritising important issues that economically empower residents so that they will be able to pay rates.
“If council makes proper use of these open spaces they will generate revenue and residents in turn, will have money to pay water bills and other rates.
“The absence of properly designated markets and home industries will make council lose revenue and residents will always fail to pay rates as there will be no sources of income,” said Moyo.
Kuwadzana Extension Ward 44 Councillor Richard Masunda said when stands were allocated by the Zimbabwe Building Society in the mid 1990s, no accurate measurements were used.
This has resulted in lots of land left idle for no specific reason.
“We recently allocated stands on an open space previously reserved for market stalls.
“The space was too large and we decided to use part of the land for residential stands,” said Cllr Masunda.
He said that not all open spaces are going to be allocated housing stands and that they were currently looking for developers who could work on the open spaces and turn them into flea markets or similarly important purposes.
If all open spaces are occupied by houses, only God knows where the land to be developed into markets, home industries and recreational facilities is going to come from.
Residents of Kuwadzana Extension presented aired their views during the Council budget deliberations held at Kuwadzana 8 Primary School recently.
They requested Council to construct a community hall, sporting facilities, home industries and flea markets on all the open spaces left in the area.
The council officials promised to look into these issues but what baffles the mind is the fact that the land where these developments are supposed to take place was invaded by “infill stands”.
The issue of infill stands has been going on for too long now and open spaces in all residential areas in Harare and Chitungwiza are fast disappearing.
The time is now ripe for a paradigm shift but residents are overwhelmingly silent on these new developments and responsible authorities are still occupied with fattening their pockets.