News / National
Land barons continue to wreak havoc in Harare
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Harare City Council has raised alarm over the illegal occupation of more than 140 sites across the capital by land barons, with city officials turning to the courts in a bid to halt the unregulated developments threatening urban planning and environmental sustainability.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Thematic Committee on Climate Change, Harare City Council housing and community services director, Admond Nhekairo, detailed how land barons are exploiting legal loopholes and judicial processes to frustrate council efforts to reclaim public land.
"There is now a tendency by some of these invaders to quickly rush to the courts with dirty hands and apply for spoliation orders," Nhekairo said.
"We end up tied up in court for two years while illegal developments continue. Even when the city eventually wins, we are left to take corrective action after the damage has already been done."
The issue of illegal land occupations is compounded by the Environmental Management Agency (Ema)'s revelations that it has received 152 applications for developments on wetlands - a critical environmental concern. These applications, which include Environmental Impact Assessments and land-use change requests, have come from both private developers and the City of Harare itself.
Ema's acting director-general, Christopher Mushava, described the situation as alarming but acknowledged improved communication between stakeholders on what is required for legal development.
"These applications include both those from private developers and the City of Harare. The positive is that there is now better communication on what needs to be done," Mushava said.
The scale of the crisis has been further highlighted in Harare's recently unveiled master plan, which paints a bleak picture of the city's housing challenges. Harare faces a severe housing shortage, with 288,885 people on the official waiting list and a high demand for affordable housing options. Currently, 43% of urban families live as lodgers due to the lack of available and affordable accommodation.
The master plan report outlined further challenges, including overcrowding, with many households crammed into single rooms, and a shortage of middle-income housing options, with 67% of available housing stock being in high-density areas.
"Poor housing conditions, aging infrastructure, and lack of repairs, especially in pre-independence suburbs, have worsened the situation," the report stated.
"Many housing projects remain unfinished, lacking essential services such as water, sewage, and road infrastructure."
The city also faces a rapid and unregulated growth of informal settlements, often without the necessary supporting services, while bureaucratic and costly housing development approval processes continue to stifle legal housing delivery.
Concerns have also been raised over alleged corruption in land allocation, with accusations that council lists are being bypassed while land barons take advantage of the vacuum to illegally sell land.
City officials are calling for stronger legislative and enforcement tools to curb the growing influence of land barons and to protect both Harare's urban planning integrity and its fragile wetlands from further illegal developments.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Thematic Committee on Climate Change, Harare City Council housing and community services director, Admond Nhekairo, detailed how land barons are exploiting legal loopholes and judicial processes to frustrate council efforts to reclaim public land.
"There is now a tendency by some of these invaders to quickly rush to the courts with dirty hands and apply for spoliation orders," Nhekairo said.
"We end up tied up in court for two years while illegal developments continue. Even when the city eventually wins, we are left to take corrective action after the damage has already been done."
The issue of illegal land occupations is compounded by the Environmental Management Agency (Ema)'s revelations that it has received 152 applications for developments on wetlands - a critical environmental concern. These applications, which include Environmental Impact Assessments and land-use change requests, have come from both private developers and the City of Harare itself.
Ema's acting director-general, Christopher Mushava, described the situation as alarming but acknowledged improved communication between stakeholders on what is required for legal development.
"These applications include both those from private developers and the City of Harare. The positive is that there is now better communication on what needs to be done," Mushava said.
The master plan report outlined further challenges, including overcrowding, with many households crammed into single rooms, and a shortage of middle-income housing options, with 67% of available housing stock being in high-density areas.
"Poor housing conditions, aging infrastructure, and lack of repairs, especially in pre-independence suburbs, have worsened the situation," the report stated.
"Many housing projects remain unfinished, lacking essential services such as water, sewage, and road infrastructure."
The city also faces a rapid and unregulated growth of informal settlements, often without the necessary supporting services, while bureaucratic and costly housing development approval processes continue to stifle legal housing delivery.
Concerns have also been raised over alleged corruption in land allocation, with accusations that council lists are being bypassed while land barons take advantage of the vacuum to illegally sell land.
City officials are calling for stronger legislative and enforcement tools to curb the growing influence of land barons and to protect both Harare's urban planning integrity and its fragile wetlands from further illegal developments.
Source - Newsday
