Chitungwiza residents were yesterday demanding that owners of properties built on illegal sites in the town should be fully compensated if their structures were demolished.
Chairperson of the Chitungwiza Residents and Ratepayers’ Association Arthur Taderera said although the move by council to demolish the unsanctioned structures was positive, council should be “cautious” as it was an emotive matter.
“We want the process to be done in a professional way. People paid for the land and this must be a way to arrest the councillors involved,” Taderera said.
“This should be done and council must see to it that those people are put on the waiting list and must have their land compensated. The people should get their money back and I think it will bring out a lot of issues. It will be a way of starting the waiting list because it has been corrupted already.”
Acting town clerk Fungai Mbetsa, whose team is struggling to bring normalcy to the town, told Parliament on Monday that all structures on illegal sites would be demolished.
Mbetsa said the report on illegal stands had presented them with an opportunity to determine what needed to be rectified.
“We have done a report on this issue of illegal stands and we now know what is wrong or right and what needs to be done, and in terms of that report –in cases where houses are in a wrong road servitude, we have no option except to remove that house because the road will need to be extended,” Mbetsa said.
“Those houses on top of sewage pipes will also be removed because that pipe will have to be repaired one way or the other and we will need to give way to service delivery, and it is the same with houses built on top of electricity cables — all this needs to be corrected.”
