‘Stop paying rates to council’
Government has ordered affected residents of the Budiriro 5B wetlands scandal to stop paying rates to council in order to stop the rot.
The informal settlement houses over 90 families but without marked roads, water and functioning sewage system.
A fortnight ago, the settlement was hit hard by flash floods that destroyed property and left residents seeking shelter at nearby Budiriro 5 CABS area.
Speaking during a visit to the settlement minister of National Housing and Social Amenities, Daniel Garwe said Government will be investigating the matter further.
“This is an informal settlement which for an unknown reason the local authority decided to sell the land to home seekers.
“There is no road that was constructed, there is no water and there is no sewer and surprisingly these people are paying rates to council.
“They are paying for refuse collection and water, but all these services are non-existent. Hence the Ministry of Local Government is going to take up on itself to investigate and find out what was happening,” said minister Garwe.
Minister Garwe has also warned council officials who are conniving with land barons.
“There is also a team of land barons who are working in cahoots with council official and councillors to collect money from home seekers.
“However, we have instructed people to stop paying money whether to council or to these informal land barons so that we put a stop to this scourge,” he said.
He said the scourge has spread across the country.
“This is the beginning of a cleaning process since this has not only affected Budiriro but happening throughout the country,” he said.
Government is treating the Budiriro case as an emergency and is looking to evacuate the families to a safer place.
“This is an emergency, the first step is to evacuate these people from Budiriro to a safe place whilst we are looking for a suitable area where they can build decent houses,” he said.
Earlier, both the Harare City and Chitungwiza Councils were ordered by Minister Garwe to quickly move people who were allocated stands in wetlands after continuous heavy rains.