Zimbabwe: Harare City Council Demolishes ‘Illegal’ Houses in Belvedere – Says Operation to Extend to Other Areas

Harare City Council on Thursday demolished close to 20 houses in Ridgeview, Belvedere, Harare citing the land had been illegally acquired from barons.

This is the second time “illegal structures” have been bulldozed in the area but the displaced residents returned and rebuilt with no approval from the council. The residents insist they got the land from the State.

The blitz, the council said, will be executed in other areas in the capital where residents built structures on fraudulently acquired land.

Land barons have on numerous occasions set up illegal housing associations and sold land they do not own to unsuspecting residents.

Acting Director of Planning, Samuel Nyabeza said, “We have to restore order in the city and we will not tolerate a situation where people just build houses without approvals and permission from council. A settlement has to be planned with all amenities in place before people start building.

“You cannot build a house without council-approved plans; you cannot build where there are no sewer and water facilities. We urge residents to check with the City of Harare before buying land. Even when building a structure, every stage should have council approvals.”

When NewZimbabwe.com news crew visited the area the affected residents claimed they had not been served with any notifications to vacate the area adding they feel the council is “torturing or punishing us” by flattening their houses during the rainy season.

“When city council thinks of destroying people’s homes, firstly they should give people notices and if they think of destroying they shouldn’t target the rainy season because it will seem as if they are now torturing us or it’s some form of punishment.

“This is the second time, and that first time we were told to carry on building the houses as they had given us the green light saying the papers were in order and we proceeded. No normal person would build in a place that wasn’t approved,” said Owen Kuchata, a victim whose family of 5 is now homeless.

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Another affected resident, Itai Zinabwa said he did not know where his family was going to live.

“I have a 2-roomed house that I had built and the fence was destroyed also, I don’t even have a plan here as you can see those six children are mine and I have no idea where we will go in this rainy season”, he said.

Philip Chivaka, another displaced resident described the demolitions as “painful”.

“We were not informed that that’s what they are going to do today, we were never given any warning we just saw them starting to do as they like, and the way they did it was painful,” he said.

In a recent ruling, the High Court said demolitions by local authorities were using outdated laws and that such violate constitutional protections like the freedom from arbitrary eviction.

Justice Never Katiyo deemed sections 32 and 37 of the Regional, Town and Country Planning Act unconstitutional after Chitungwiza Municipality had sought a demolition order following a challenge by the Chitungwiza Residents Trust.

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