'No mercy,' Murambatsvina part 2 is coming

GOVERNMENT yesterday said there would be no compensation to owners of illegal properties that are going to be demolished as that would be punishment for not obeying the law.

Responding to a question raised by a resident during a meeting at Madangure in Seke, District Administrator Erick Samunda told hundreds of residents whose houses stand to be demolished that owners of these houses had built them disregarding the law and would, therefore, not be compensated.

One resident asked: "We invested a lot in building these houses and what will happen if they are demolished?"

Samunda responded: "There is what we call punishment and a good move. That is punishment."

Joel Biggie Matiza, the deputy minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, who was appointed to lead a team to investigate illegal settlements, said government was trying to deal with the chaos caused by corrupt headmen and councillors in the area and that police would be asked to deal with those who would continue building on State land.

"Others are headmen selling State land and councillors using the name of the party (Zanu-PF) yet they are criminals. The position is if you are staying where you are unlawfully, you are a squatter," he said.

"The issue here is about disagreements on development in this area. The ministry has seen that the disorder had gone out of hand and people are settling themselves at will. It's now chaotic and we have people buying communal land which is State land in the custody of the President."

Matiza said most people were building on grazing land, wetlands and school land and that had to stop.

"We want to re-organise and if you see those people building, call the police."

He added: "Those are illegal issues that need to be addressed. There are people who have been on the waiting list and you can't suddenly be on top of that list. You will be down that list. We will wait for recommendations from the audit team. We are not saying we will just bring bulldozers. We will agree on a way forward," Matiza said.

"The buildings are not properly built. They can fall anytime. They can cause diseases because there is no proper ventilation. Others are building at night and this has caused us to look into the matter. There is rot here. We don't want our city to be a squatter camp.

"Others are building under power lines posing a danger to children and other people." Matiza added that there were areas where compromising would not work.

"There are some areas where we will not even negotiate. For others you can re-plan and make sure the building conforms to city status. We have the keys and we are trying to understand that people paid their money so we have to understand. But in organising, some houses have to be removed to create roads."