admin
Fidelis Munyoro Herald Reporter
Government will allocate more land for housing to women and youths following appeals by the women to First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe during her Meet the People rallies across the country recently, a Cabinet Minister has said.
Women and youths appealed to the First Lady to intervene and help them access land for housing, among other things.
In an interview, Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Ignatius Chombo said women were the pillars of society and families, hence they should not be sidelined in resource allocation.
Speaking at a rally in Marondera during her Meet the People tour, Amai Mugabe called on the Government to give land to women after it emerged that they were being sidelined.
Minister Chombo said war veterans, security forces and civil servants would also have their fair share in the allocation of land for housing.
“We are responding to the plea by women and the youths to the First Lady and the national need of empowerment through housing in line with the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset),” said Minister Chombo.
Zim-Asset was crafted as a strategy to put the economy on the trajectory for sustainable economic development anchored on judicious utilisation of local natural and human resources.
According to the blueprint, the social services and poverty eradication cluster demands the human settlement goods and services delivery sector to meet a target of 125 000 housing units by December 2018.
Minister Chombo said the First Lady’s tour of the 10 provinces helped them to understand women concerns.
He said in response to the pleas made by women for the equitable allocation of land for housing, Government had withdrawn with immediate effect land allocated to 10 housing co-operatives in the Glen Norah area of Harare popularly known as Kumakonye (Silkworm projects) for re-planning purposes.
“All that land has with immediate effect been restored to central Government for purposes of re-planning with women in mind,” said Minister Chombo.
“We have ordered the withdrawal of the land and we want to give it to women. We will assist them to make the area swanky with world class walk up flats, markets and recreation centres, among other amenities.”
The portion of the land, the Minister said, was originally given to women by the former First Lady Sally Mugabe for empowerment projects.
The latest development follows the launch of the Harare chapter of the national housing delivery programme last week under Zim-Asset that will see more than 105 000 housing units being built in the capital by 2018.
The programme will also be launched in other provinces in the coming weeks. Under the economic policy, the national housing programme will result in the construction of 313 358 housing units across the country in the next 40 months as Zimbabwe moves to alleviate accommodation shortage.
Online Reporter