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Urban invaders face arrest: Chombo

Politics
Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo yesterday said government will pull down all illegal structures and order the arrest of fraudsters cheating people using the name of Zanu PF.

Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo yesterday said government will pull down all illegal structures and order the arrest of fraudsters cheating people using the name of Zanu PF.

BY MOSES MATENGA

This came out during an interactive meeting between Chombo and stakeholders in Harare where residents complained of illegal structures mushrooming in the city spearheaded by people purporting to be Zanu PF.

Chombo, who was accompanied by the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs for Harare Miriam Chikukwa, said they would work with Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri to get perpetrators arrested.

“In the recent past, we have witnessed mushrooming of illegal settlements in most of our urban habitats. You must of necessity remedy the unpalatable development. On that note, I would like to express my displeasure on land invasions perpetrated by pseudo co-operatives, who allocate both municipal and State land without authority from responsible institutions.”

“Individuals masquerading as land authorities must be brought to book so as to protect citizens,” Chombo said.

Harare deputy mayor Thomas Muzuva disclosed that in Mufakose, the invaders claimed that they had the authority of the city’s Physical Planning Department to build houses.

“There is a housing project that falls under Joshua Nkomo Housing Co-operative and if council questions them, they say they got the authority from the Department of Planning,” said Muzuva.

Chombo, however, said the department did not own land.

He said that those who had built on illegal space should destroy their own structures before government stepped in to demolish them.

Chikukwa weighed in saying if Chombo has been talking without acting, she was a different person and would soon prove that.

“We must not build where we are not supposed to build. Maybe minister Chombo was joking, but I mean it. I will make sure people are arrested. Even if you are my relative, you will be arrested and I will come to see you in prison,” she said.