Land scams fuelling overpopulation

UNSCRUPULOUS traditional leaders and politicians have been parcelling out land to desperate home-seekers in villages bordering Victoria Falls, resulting in overpopulation around the city which is the biggest tourist attraction.

The land scam in villages such as Monde, Chidobe and Lupinyu has alarmed authorities, who are now scrambling to rectify the chaos that also affects the Victoria Falls International Airport.

Authorities say some settlements are too close to the airport which violates the law, which stipulates that there should be no housing developments within an 8km radius of the airport.

Over the years, desperate home-seekers in the resort town, avoiding exorbitant rentals, have been bribing traditional leaders in the surrounding villages and build houses without approval from the Hwange Rural District Council, which has jurisdiction over the areas.

Homeseekers were paying as much as US$800 for 1 000 square-metre stands. The unplanned settlements have resulted in overpopulation, with some villages now having as many as 300 homesteads instead of the 25 to 30 stipulated by the law.

In the past few weeks, Hwange council officials have been holding emergency meetings with traditional leaders and politicians in the affected areas in a bid to rectify the problem amid indications that the illegal structures will be demolished.

Traditional leaders in Monde are said to have organised a meeting recently where they told the illegal settlers that their structures will be demolished in the next three months.

They believe tha in Lupinyu, there are over 100 homesteads that could be affected by the impending evictions. Village heads are said to be the masterminds of the illegal settlements where they have been creating parallel registers that are not known to the chiefs or council. A Monde villager claimed his fields were parcelled out to five people by the village head.

Acting Chief Mvuthu, born Bishop Matata Sibanda, said the illegal settlements had resulted in overpopulation in his area.

He said the settlers did not follow procedure when they built their structures.

He said he had since instructed headmen and village heads under his jurisdiction to warn the illegal settlers of the impending evictions.

Sibanda said there was a backlog of villagers that wanted to build homesteads, but there was no longer any land as it had been taken by the illegal settlers.

Centre for Innovation and Technology