No demolition without four months’ notice: Govt

Joseph Madzimure-Senior Reporter

GOVERNMENT has outlawed the demolition of houses in Harare without four months’ notice to allow the affected property owners to reconstruct and have decent shelter for their families.

This comes as Harare City Council has announced plans to demolish over 5 000 houses beginning this week, with 48-hour eviction notices already issued to people with houses allegedly built without approval on land reserved for public amenities.

Some of the properties targeted are in Mabelreign, Kuwadzana, Budiriro, Kuwadzana, Mabvuku and Glen View.

But in interview last Friday on the sidelines of a meeting of the Institute of Architects of Zimbabwe in Harare, Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe criticised the City of Harare’s approach of wantonly demolishing people’s houses without adequate notice. 

He called for the need to respect citizens’ rights to shelter and expressed concern over council’s “unreasonable” notice period for residents to vacate their homes, which was set at just four to five days.

Minister Garwe said if the City of Harare was to demolish houses, it could knock down structures built on land set as side for social amenities such as schools, railway lines and recreational areas, and not other reasons.

“We are human beings, and every human being has got a right to shelter,” said Minister Garwe. 

“There is a lot of excitement from the City of Harare in terms of wanting to demolish people’s homes, they are playing to the gallery, condemning public officials and the Government that we are just issuing statements because there was the Extraordinary SADC Summit recently.

“Yes, we appreciate that those houses were illegally built, people who were not following the laid down procedures, people built on land set aside for other activities social amenities, schools and railway line; we are aware of that as Government.”

The Government, Minister Garwe said, had advised the council to “give these people adequate notice to vacate those areas so that they can then come and demolish, while these people are properly settled elsewhere”. 

“Give them three or four months’ notice; but they were giving them four days, five days. Who can build a house in four days in Zimbabwe, and then move to where it is built?” he said. 

While Minister Garwe acknowledged that many houses were built illegally on designated land, he advocated a more humane approach. 

He also issued a stern warning regarding illegal land sales by land barons, urging citizens to refrain from purchasing land from bogus individuals, stressing that such transactions could lead to criminal charges for both buyers and sellers. “It is illegal to buy land from land barons,” he said.

He encouraged the public to report suspicious land sales, highlighting the importance of vigilance in land transactions that appear too good to be true, such as buying a 2 000 square metre stand for US$500.