Wenslus Murape
Nokuthula Dube
THE Harare City Council has shelved plans to demolish over 5 000 houses it says were built illegally on council land following last week’s Government directive to give affected homeowners at least four months’ notice.
Council officials who spoke to The Sunday Mail said the local authority had begun consultations with the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works on the way forward.
Responding to an inquiry from this publication, Harare Mayor Councillor Jacob Mafume said: “We have put on hold demolitions for now.”
Separately, Harare acting chief development control officer Mr James Mazvimba said council was engaging the Government.
“We are engaging the Ministry (of Local Government) for direction, but the demolitions will resume.”
A fortnight ago, council began issuing 48-hour eviction notices to residents in affected areas.
Seventeen property owners in Mabelreign were among the first to be served, and the council planned to extend the exercise to high-density suburbs such as Budiriro, Kuwadzana, Glen View and Mabvuku.
The City of Harare recently indicated that it plans to demolish over 5 000 houses built on illegal settlements across the city, enforcing 37 High Court orders authorising the move.
Last week, Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe told our sister paper, The Herald, that Harare should put on hold its demolition plans.
“We are human beings, and every human being has the 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 . . .”
“Yes, we appreciate that those houses were illegally built and people were not following the laid-down procedures; people built on land set aside for other activities and 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,” he said.
The Harare City Council recently demolished over 30 houses in Belvedere, claiming the structures were illegally constructed on council-owned land.
The council argued that the demolitions were part of a broader operation to enforce urban planning regulations and curb unauthorised developments.
According to city officials, the land had been unlawfully allocated to homeseekers by a private company using fraudulent documents.
daniel chigunwe
