Land barons menace needs urgent attention

A lot of the urban Zimbabwean dwellers have been under pressure to own houses in various cities and towns where they work and reside but such dreams have been eluding them for time immemorial. It has not been good news for most of the people who have been lodging and renting at those who were fortunate to own houses as that move is not conducive to those with large and extended families.

Some city fathers have been using the issuance of waiting list scenarios as a way of trying to register people who were/are homeless so that they get to know the total number of those with no houses. Having a total number of the homeless makes the city fathers to look for land for them and get them allocated stands if the need arise. The issuance of some waiting lists in which some individuals pay certain amounts so that they get registered and then get some waiting list numbers has not helped the homeless to get stands. That move has only some city fathers to get money thereby the homeless losing their cash through that exercise. Some waiting lists are renewed every year and one is bound to part away with his/her money for the list to be renewed thereby continuously adding money into the city fathers' coffers.

Actually the issue of the waiting list only helps the city fathers to get extra money for their operations with those on the waiting list getting nothing in return. Some city fathers can receive as many applications as possible from some home seekers knowing very well that they have no land to accommodate those home seekers thereby fleecing the desperate home seekers of their hard won cash. Those people have now taken it upon themselves to make sure that for anyone to get a stand he/she should have a waiting list number. This sounds as a genuine approach but the bottom line is for the city fathers to make money out of nothing. This is where the problem of land barons becomes manifested. Something done on a legal basis but creating confusion to those paying money and get nothing in return.

The failure by the city fathers to legally allocate stands to some home seekers in various cities and towns have created the issue of house cooperatives as a means to lessen the burden of some city fathers in allocating stands to home seekers. Housing cooperatives have made it necessary for some people to get stands but they have also created the land barons menace. The problem of the land barons has in the country has led to a lot of people losing their cash in the pretext that they would get decent houses and stands.

Some land barons who of late have been fleecing people of their hard won cash have left some people homeless as some home seekers fell victim to being sold nonexistence stands. In some cases some people are sold stands situated in unpermitted areas thereby inviting the law enforcements agents who end up destroying such illegal houses. Only recently some illegal structures which were built along Airport road in Harare were demolished by the city fathers because they were situated in an illegal location. Surprisingly the Harare City council failed to stop such illegal buildings when they were built as early as 2008, only to demolish them when other people had safely settled there with their well-built houses.

While the victims along Airport road were crying because their structures were being destroyed but the land barons who benefited a lot from those unfortunate house seekers were left untouched. Instead of the City fathers to come out and deal decisively with those land barons who sold those stands to the victims, the city fathers went ahead and destroyed those houses without compensation. Some land barons have benefited a lot from selling illegal stands to some desperate home seekers and the government as well as some city fathers around the country should make sure that those found on the wrong side of the law are brought to book

Since the turn of the 21st century at the height of the land reform program in the country, some land barons emerged who sold illegal stands to desperate home seekers knowing very well that they do not own any land. Some of the illegal stands sold to desperate home seekers appeared genuine leading to some people to believe that they have finally got what they have been waiting for, for quite a long time. So the issue of the land barons should be put to finality by arresting those people who took advantage of the homeless people by selling them illegal stands.

While the concept of the housing cooperatives brought relief to the home seekers who got houses through that concept but those who have of late abused that concept should be brought to book. It is not helpful for people to get duped of their hard won cash and then the culprits are left untouched.  The responsible authorities should deal with this problem of the land barons decisively so that some home seekers are protected from being fleeced of their money.

Actually the city fathers should use the model which they did in Caledonia in Harare, where all housing cooperatives there have been put in legal terms. Home seekers in Caledonia were asked by city fathers to regularize their stay there through making necessary payments for their stands to some responsible authorities. Now some people in Caledonia can safely claim that they are house owners because the Harare City Council in conjunction with the government has moved in to rectify the land crisis that was manifesting itself there.

So the Caledonia model should be applied to all housing cooperatives around the country so that the land baron problems becomes the issue of the past. Some city fathers should not let the people get fleeced of their hard won cash by some land barons. It should be the duty of the local authorities to make sure that people get land from them as a way of stopping this problem of the land barons in the country. The Minister of Local Government, Cde Saviour Kasukuwere should also intervene in this land baron crisis and make sure that the menace is stopped forthwith before the problem becomes a cancer in the country.

A lot of people want to see all those who were arrested some few months ago over illegal selling of land to unsuspecting home seekers to get punished over their illegal deals and such a move could bring finality to the problem of some land barons in the country.