Govt steps up efforts to regularise informal settlements

Joseph Madzimure

Senior Reporter

THE Government has stepped up efforts to regularise informal settlements across the country, Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe has said. 

It has also put in place a regularisation policy managed by the Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities together with the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works.

Speaking at a “Ministers Meet the Media’’ briefing organised by the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting and Publicity Services in Harare yesterday, Minister Garwe said the Government would expedite the regularisation of all the informal settlements to realise Vision 2030.

“We have no choice; we need to regularise all the informal settlements that are within the country. If we are to speak of an upper middle-income status by 2030, we need to make conscious decisions not only as central Government but as Zimbabweans to ensure that we regularise. How do we start it: it starts with you and me.”

Minister Garwe said people must not to buy land from land barons, since all State land belongs to the Government.

“Please stop buying land from land barons, that’s the first call for regularisation. We now have structures put in place to ensure that you can come to the Ministry of Local Government and your local authority and be able to get information on the availability of a stand in the area of your choice if there are there, so stop buying land from criminals.”

For the areas that already exist as informal settlements such as Caledonia to the east of Harare and the swathe of settlements across Harare South, Minister Garwe said Government had put in place a budget to ensure they engaged developers who would develop the area.

Those who would be getting the title deeds would be able to use these as security to get the mortgages they needed to pay for services such as roads, water and sewers.

“We now have a budget in place to ensure that we engage the developers so that they provide roads, water, and the sewer that is required to regularise those areas.

“We want residents to participate. They desire to have a title deed. They can only get a title deed if they pay for the land first. The land belongs to the State. Even if you are living on a stand that is half a metre by half a metre, you pay for the land first,” Minister Garwe said.

“After paying for the land you are now requested to pay for the road construction that covers the 500 metres in your area of concern, the water for the same distance of that same area and the sewer of your area.

“The money does not go to the Government coffers; it will go to a bank or an insurance company or building societies that have the responsibility to offer mortgage facilities for the same beneficiaries that are on the land”.  

Proper regularisation, he said, ultimately enabled the building of modern smart infrastructure which would increase property values as regulated and organised neighbourhoods were more desirable places to live and work.

Minister Garwe said sanitisation was closely linked to economic development as poor sanitary practices can lead to increased healthcare costs, lost productivity due to illness, and a burden on the public health system.