Bitterness, betrayal and frustration in the wake of Budiriro demolitions

News
Clad in a tattered oversized 2013 Zanu PF campaign T-shirt, Tobias Muperi appears too dejected to speak to The Standard team visiting families in Budiriro, whose homes were razed down by Harare City Council last Thursday.

Clad in a tattered oversized 2013 Zanu PF campaign T-shirt, Tobias Muperi appears too dejected to speak to The Standard team visiting families in Budiriro, whose homes were razed down by Harare City Council last Thursday.

by XOLISANI NCUBE

He looks at this reporter in apparent anger as he struggles to comprehend why the local authority claims the 200 affected families had settled on a wetland.

Budiriro-Current-house-demolitions

“Are you coming from council? Who are you and what do you want from us?” he attempts to shout, but anger and frustration get the better of him, taking away his voice.

“We are sick and tired of being used. We got this land as a housing cooperative registered with the Small to Medium Enterprises ministry. Now you council people, because you are MDC-T you want to remove us from this area so that you settle your wives and children. That will not happen. You are corrupt,” Muperi says while charging towards the news crew’s vehicle with a cigarette in hand.

But after a few exchanges, he opens up.

“We are stranded here. We have nowhere to go. I have just requested my relatives to accommodate my family and our few belongings while I look for a solution to this crisis,” Muperi says.

Welcome to the calamity that desperate Zimbabwe home-seekers are exposed to as “greedy and heartless politicians” take advantage of their desperation for homes.

“We were given this land in 2011 by the then Zanu PF provincial chairman, the late Amos Midzi and Tendai Savanhu [former Zanu PF politburo member] and we started building our homes,” Muperi said.

“But today we are shocked that this MDC-T council starts to demolish our homes heartlessly without paying attention to the amount of money we have invested.”

Council officials say the houses were built on wetlands and land reserved for a school and a clinic and that [the houses] were also too close to water tanks.

Some of the affected families are members of Zanu PF-aligned housing co-operatives; Vineyard, Tinopona and Nodville.

The residents questioned the timing and motive of the exercise, which came shortly after Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere reportedly assured them that he was working towards regularising their stay.

“This is council punishing us for being Zanu PF and it’s unfortunate that it is happening at a time our party is holding its annual conference and they know that by the time the minister is back, we would have found somewhere to relocate to,” Muperi said.

Then a woman emerges from the remains of another fallen structure, fuming and shouting. She narrates how Muperi and 200 others got their pieces of land.

“We are not entertaining people here Samaita [Muperi’s totem]. They are crooks. We want to see the minister himself, not these wicked council workers,” she said.

According to the affected settlers, some of the houses cost up to $40 000 to build. They were reduced to rubble in a matter of minutes last Thursday.

Some of the residents said despite their “patriotism” and repeated assurances from political heavy weights that “this is our land and we own it whole and raw,” they were shocked to see bulldozers coming to raze their houses.

“We have been paying $200 every month since 2011 and now we are destitute,” Muperi complaints bitterly as more angry settlers surround the news team.

“If you are a council worker, we will deal with you. You better write something positive. Anyway, let us call the provincial PC [Political Commissar] Shadreck Mashayamombe since you say he will vouch for you that you are a genuine journalist,” one youth says.

A number of Zanu PF members, including its ex-youth leader, Godwin Gomwe, are currently standing trial for using either the party or President Robert Mugabe’s name or that of his wife, Grace to extort money from home-seekers. Kasukuwere says the law has to be followed and if the victims are illegal occupants, there is nothing he can do to protect them.

“I will have to get facts of the matter before I can comment, but generally, as government, we don’t promote lawlessness, and if those people were given land properly, then council is wrong. But if they are illegal occupants, they will have to go and the land barons masquerading as housing cooperatives will have to face the full wrath of the law,” Kasukuwere said.

Most of the land barons have been linked to Zanu PF and seem to be untouchable while only a few “small fish” have been arrested.

Mayor Bernard Manyenyeni was at pains to defend council position, saying the local authority was protecting the image of the city.

“We are very keen to protect the city’s superior town planning and in doing that, we discourage any form of unplanned settlements. Where this has gone ahead without authority, we first seek opportunities for regularising as many of the structures as we possibly can,” Manyenyeni said in a Facebook post.

Manyenyeni even crossed swords with some from his MDC-T party, who accuse the local authority of engaging in unconstitutional demolitions.

“Did council have court orders for this in terms of the Constitution? World Human Rights Day indeed, not Zimbabwe Human Rights Day. So many battles to fight!” wrote MDC-T lawmaker Jessie Majome on Manyenyeni’s Facebook page.

Ex-MDC-T councillor Warship Dumba joined in the fray and accused council of missing key priorities in the quest for better service delivery.

“This council easily sources funds for destroying houses while council workers go for months without pay? Who exactly is behind this? I hope sooner rather than later, council will move in to destroy all developments sitting on wetlands,” he says.

But chairman of environmental management committee of council, Herbert Gomba said council used the regional town and country planning act to control planning and development.

“I have seen residents associations blasting council for acting but never heard them educating residents about good citizenship, which includes abiding by the laws of the country. I have heard council being asked questions like ‘why did you allow them to settle there?’ but never heard these illegal settlers being asked questions like ‘why do you do illegal things being misled by politicians?’” Gomba said.

As The Standard team was leaving the area, Muperi shouted “If Zanu PF is involved in this, we will deal with them, come 2018”.