GOVERNMENT yesterday said it will demolish illegal structures and build new houses for the victims.
BY MOSES MATENGA
Local Government, Public Works and National Housing deputy minister Joel Biggie Matiza told NewsDay that there was no going back on demolition of illegal structures, but the government would stand guided by an audit report to be presented to his principal Ignatius Chombo tomorrow.
“The situation (intention to demolish) still remains, but we will wait for a report to see which properties can be regularised and which ones will have to be demolished,” Matiza said.
“People can join the housing waiting list. We have a national housing programme that will be launched soon. We have the land for the programme, but I cannot pre-empty details until it has been launched.”
Matiza did not, however, say where resources to fund this programme would be found. Zimbabwe is facing a debilitating economic crisis which has seen a critical shortage of cash on the market amid reports that several banks have fallen on hard times.
Several companies were also facing serious liquidity crisis which has resulted in some downsizing while others have closed shop altogether. Non-governmental organisations too were feeling the economic pinch and a good number were closing down.
Government itself has failed to present the national budget as scheduled and economic experts say although the Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa hasgiven the need for wide consultation as the reason, the position was that there was no money to budget.
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The experts, who preferred to remain unnamed, said last night promises such as those made by the Local Government ministry to build houses for people whom it would have made homeless were as sinister as it was unbelievable.
“Where will government get the money to build houses for everyone that it intends to render homeless? Why destroy first before building? This is not the first time that we have seen this naked lie. In 2005 government kicked over 700 000 people out of their homes into the cold and when it got under pressure to provide alternative accommodation, it took the government years to come up with a handful of small cabins, the size of a small bathroom, which they gave to a few hundred politically favoured individuals under the programme ironically named ‘Operation Garikai’,” one analyst said.
Another analyst said Matiza’s promises were “the joke of the year”, adding that government should not take “people for fools that have no brains”.
“Who do they think does not see that the economy of this country is fast going down the drain to the 2008-9 levels of catastrophe? So where will government get money to build new houses for free for the hundreds of thousands of family that are likely to be affected by this ill-concieved idea?
“This government is failing to provide enough electricity to bring industry back to life or even safe drinking water for its people and they think we will believe them when they say they will find money to build new free houses for everyone? The ministers must not be so naïve as to think people can be taken for granted,” the analyst said.
