Demolition of houses: An insensitive and unjustified gesture

In the past years, Zimbabweans have witnessed the demolitions of houses on the grounds that the houses were built illegally. The city council is instrumental in the destruction of the structures deemed illegal.

The continual destruction of houses in urban areas such as Harare is predicated on the fact that, the land upon which the houses are built is illegal and certain legal process might have been omitted.

The land upon which the houses are built is said to be sold by different housing cooperatives that have been mushrooming in the country in the past years. Some of the land is allegedly procured from councilors and individuals who are said to be affiliated to certain political parties.

With many people who bought this land to build houses falling victim to demolitions, one question arises, who legitimizes these cooperatives to continue selling land to people who, would later be deemed illegal upon the completion of building their houses?

The contention over house demolitions emanates from the fact that the council and government wait until the houses are built to completion to be declared illegal. This is regarded by many as an insensitive gesture which does not regard the efforts made by people in building their houses. In an effort to build houses a lot of costs are incurred from buying the land itself, building materials and labor, yet the authorities have the audacity to destroy someone's sweat just like that.

The destruction of the houses deemed illegal seems to be informed by the "blame the victim" approach which holds the assumption that individuals are responsible for their own problems. This approach does not put into consideration that societal and institutional structures also account for the problems faced by individuals in their daily lives.

In these episodes of house demolitions, we only see the victims as those who procured the land suffering through the destruction of the structures they built. In these developments, nothing concerning the individuals or cooperatives selling land to the people illegally is mentioned.

What is worrying is that, hitherto, not a single cooperative has been held to account over selling land illegally to the people. After all these numerous scandals of selling land to the people who will suffer in the end, one would expect the arrest and prosecution of individuals selling land to people.

The proper thing to do would be to publish the names of the cooperatives and bring them to book. The cooperatives must also be made to compensate the individuals to whom they sold the land.

The demolition of completed houses does not resonate with section 74 of the Zimbabwean constitution which guarantees the right to shelter. After the demolitions, no efforts are made to provide the victims with an alternative shelter to promote their wellbeing. The victims are not even compensated for the loss which results from the demolitions.

More so, the timing of the demolitions indicates the insensitiveness of the authorities. It is the rain season and these demolitions put the lives of the victims in a precarious position. The victims will lose property and they are also susceptible to diseases.

The demolitions abrogate the human rights in a myriad of ways. The victims' right to shelter is violated and the rights of children are also eroded.

The habit of houses demolitions need to be rectified. Efforts must be made to prevent the continual victimization of the poor people who are striving to a have roof on their heads. The constitution must be revised to provide compensation and alternative houses for victims of house demolitions.

Furthermore, cooperatives and politicians who are instrumental in selling land illegally must be brought to book. Illegal cooperatives must be delisted as well.

It is incumbent on the government and local authorities to empower the citizens by educating them on the procedures to be followed when procuring land so that they will not become victims in future.

The government and local authorities must explore other ways of dealing with illegal structures as opposed to the traumatic demolitions which rob people of their dignity. The continual demolitions bring the name of the country into disrepute, granted that Zimbabwe as a country vowed to promote human rights through the ratification of various regional and interregional legal frameworks on human rights.

As a country we are likely to continue scoring low on promoting human rights and achieving millennium development goals if the issue of house demolitions is not addressed.

Joseph Yamikani Mvero is a social work graduate from the University of Forthare in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.He can be contacted on josephmvero70@gmail.com