Illegal structures demolition to bring sanity
YEARS ago, everything was just simply good in Harare.
Taps always had running water, there were no potholed roads, refuse collection was regular and illegal shacks that have mushroomed in the city at every corner were a rare feature.
Anyone born pre-millennium era can without shame attest to the fact that it was simply a marvel to walk past in the capital city.
However, things started turning for the worst post the year 2000 when the opposition MDC took charge of the local authority.
Instead of speaking boldly against the illegal structures that sprouted across most suburbs, especially in high density areas, that were now breeding spaces for illicit activities such as drug dealings, the MDC councillors and officials merely decided to keep quiet.
No doubt, because they are beneficiaries of the chaos, which they helped create with the purpose of hiding behind the confusion to engage in their corrupt and illicit activities.
If the MDC is to be fairly judged today, its major crime would be that of failing to enforce city by-laws under its watch while the city was slowly being destroyed.
A stitch in time saves nine.
Just like the old adage, to redress the mess, the Government recently sanctioned local authorities in Harare Metropolitan province to just enforce its by-laws in an operation meant to bring back order and sanity.
Harare Provincial Development Coordi
nator Mr Tafadzwa Muguti refused to fold his hands back, saying his office would not allow people in the province to continue disregarding the law.
“We can’t develop a provincial economy with lawlessness,” he said. “We are removing unregistered tuckshops and other businesses operating along road servitudes.”
This led to the underway demolition exercise of illegal shacks across the city which had become havens for illicit drug peddlers and other vices.
Illegal structures that have been erected along roadways are being demolished as obstructions under the Roads Act.
Other illegal structures have been erected on open public spaces and other land grabbed without authority, with the MDC-dominated city council doing nothing to stop the developments.
Sometimes corrupt councillors and council officials have been actively encouraging these illegal developments.
Mbudzi roundabout was among the first areas to be demolished as illegal shacks were making it hard for road expansion and also
causing congestion as they were encroaching the road servitude.
Illegal structures at Zindoga and Parktown shopping centres were also destroyed.
Other illegal extensions that had encroached on the road area were removed at Glenview 8 complex.
A similar exercise was carried out at the Gazaland area along Willowvale Road in Highfield suburb where vehicle wrecks that had encroached on the road servitudes were removed before being crushed.
Even a dumped haulage truck on the roadside was removed.
The exercise also invaded residential suburbs such as Glenview and Mbare.
Destruction of illegal structures in Mbare is now beginning to give Harare’s oldest suburb a new and refreshing face.
Mbare, which had over the years degenerated into a cesspit of disorder, crime and filth is experiencing an embryonic regeneration process characterised by the infusion of order and sanity.
Mbare has earned notoriety for mayhem and disorder owing to years of neglect by the
Harare City Council under watch of the opposition MDC.
Places like the Joburg lines, Nenyere, Shawasha, Matapi, Matererini and Mbare hostels were well known as hubs of filth and social degeneration.
Over the years, illegal structures that include tuckshops and shacks had covered nearly every inch of the suburb.
Crowding is commonplace.
Traffic congestion had become a common occurrence after informal traders encroached onto road servitudes, making navigation around Mbare a nightmare for motorists.
Mupedzanhamo, Magaba Home Industry, Shawasha and Matapi Flats had become breeding grounds for criminal activities.
As expected naysayers, some who were benefiting from the chaos, went on a rampage blaming authorities for enforcing order.
However, they have been left with an egg on their face as stakeholders have since endorsed the clean-up blitz, which if sustained, is helping transform the city, albeit slowly.
City planner Dr Percy Toriro said the country needed planned orderly cities that must reflect and solve societal problems and aspirations.
Dr Toriro said planning in cities comprises two aspects: future planning, which plans to meet people’s dreams and aspirations on one hand, and development control which ensures everyone complies with what is in the plans.
“We want planned, orderly cities, but the plans must be real and reflect and solve societal problems and aspirations,” he said. “Zimbabwe has sufficient capable planners, why are we not following our planning laws and sound town planning that says we must periodically review our plans?
“No plans should be used without amendment for more than 10 years. It is those periodically reviewed plans that must tell us what to demolish. So, let’s plan and enforce current plans.”
Harare Residents Trust director Mr Precious Shumba said every business operating should be legally registered, pay taxes and operate within the confines of the law.