By A Correspondent
Zimbabwe. (News Of The South) – More than 14 000 families could be left homeless in Zimbabwe after the Chitungwiza municipality approached the High Court seeking permission to demolish houses allegedly built on wetlands.
“About 14 000 stands were declared illegal in Chitungwiza and Seke. Our application seeks to cover this area,” Chitungwiza Town Clerk George Makunde told journalists.
The houses were built by cooperatives and private land developers on wetlands and areas under electricity pylons.
There are also concerns that the illegal settlements are a health hazard as people are drinking from unprotected wells and so there are fears of a disease outbreak because there are no proper sanitation systems in place.
The first bid to destroy the houses by the Chitungwiza municipality last year failed after a magistrate stopped the process because the municipality did not have a court order to conduct the exercise.
Thereby raising widespread concern the exercise would be reminiscent of the 2005 operation “restore order” which left 700 000 families homeless countrywide. Some of those displaced in 2005 are still homeless 9 years later.
The current situation has drawn the attention of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) which has since engaged with the government of Zimbabwe.
In 1999 the government embarked on a pipe dream launching a national housing policy but it lacked resources and an increase in demand for houses made the situation worse.
It is estimated more than 1,2 million people are on the government’s housing waiting list
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