Online Reporter
Daniel Chigunwe
Herald Correspondent
PARLIAMENT has called for the urgent enactment of a Professional Planners Act, warning that Zimbabwe’s escalating informal settlements, land baronism and disorderly urban expansion will remain difficult to contain without a legal framework regulating the country’s regional and urban planning profession.
The call is contained in the Third Report of the Portfolio Committee on Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, tabled in Parliament by the committee’s chairperson, Dr Maxmore Njanji, following an inquiry into a petition submitted by the Young Planners Network of Zimbabwe.
The petition urged Parliament to enact legislation establishing a statutory Town and Regional Planners Council to regulate the profession and improve accountability in spatial planning.
Presenting the committee’s findings last week, Dr Njanji said the inquiry established that the absence of a statutory regulatory body had become a major contributor to poorly planned settlements across the country.
“The absence of a statutory regulating and governing body for urban planners in Zimbabwe was the prime factor in the mushrooming of unregulated and substandard urban settlements,” said Dr Njanji.
He said while the Regional, Town and Country Planning Act provides for land-use planning and development control, it does not regulate the planning profession, leaving room for unqualified individuals to practise.
“Due to the absence of a statutory body provided by an Act of Parliament, individuals without formal qualifications to practise as planners continue proliferating the profession of regional and urban planning,” Dr Njanji said.
“The continued absence of a regulating body to license professional planners, enforce disciplinary mechanism and professional standards abases any prospect of having sound regional and urban planning in Zimbabwe anchored on professionalism and accountability.”
The committee also found that planning authorities were struggling to enforce development control because of inadequate financial and human resources.
According to the report, local authorities and the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works have been hampered by limited capacity, while policy inconsistencies over the years have fuelled the growth of irregular settlements.
Dr Njanji said evidence gathered by the committee linked the rise in land baronism to weak enforcement of planning laws and the absence of professional regulation.
“Land baronism has exponentially increased around towns and cities and within the jurisdiction of local authorities,” he said.
“The non-regulation of the planning profession was attributed to the rise of informal housing developments in areas such as Harare South, Hopley, Epworth and parts of Chitungwiza.”
He added that many new residential settlements lacked roads, sewer systems, drainage, schools, health facilities and recreational spaces, while uncontrolled developments had resulted in wetland encroachment, riverbank settlements and dysfunctional communities.
The committee further noted that although a draft Planners Bill has existed for years, it has remained stalled despite its strategic importance.
“The Committee noted with concern that the Bill had remained in the drafting stage since 2004 despite its importance in setting standards in the profession of planning,” Dr Njanji said.
Among its recommendations, the committee urged the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works to expedite the finalisation of the Planners Bill and submit it to Parliament, while simultaneously amending the Regional, Town and Country Planning Act, the Urban Councils Act and the Rural District Councils Act.
It also called for intensified action against illegal land allocations and land barons, strengthened institutional capacity for planning authorities and increased funding for spatial planning programmes.
In its conclusion, the committee stressed that regulating the planning profession was essential to restoring order in Zimbabwe’s urban development landscape and achieving the country’s Vision 2030 aspirations.
“The Committee’s inquiry has revealed critical gaps in Zimbabwe’s spatial planning framework, particularly the absence of a statutory mechanism to regulate the planning profession, which has contributed to weak accountability and unsustainable development.”
“Ultimately, a robust and well-regulated planning system is key to achieving orderly development and the aspirations of Vision 2030 of an upper middle income economy,” Dr Njanji said.
