The Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC-T has accused President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF government of creating chaos in urban settings for political expediency.
By RICHARD CHIDZA
In a statement yesterday, MDC-T said it was aware of the ongoing “illegal” land grabs across the country in peri-urban settlements, with stands now being parcelled out to ruling party activists haphazardly.
“Evidence on the ground points to a situation where the Zanu PF regime is haphazardly and illegally acquiring urban land and parcelling it out to Zanu PF supporters as well as other regime apologists.
“In fact, almost all major urban areas such as Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Gweru and Masvingo are now being ring-fenced by illegally acquired residential stands that are neither serviced nor properly surveyed,” party spokesperson, Obert Gutu said.
Government recently announced it was planning to roll out a low-cost housing scheme for its half a million strong workforce across the country. Of these stands, at least 250 000 have already been identified, according to State media.
Gutu said the chaotic and “patently illegal land acquisition exercise” had given rise to the sprouting of illegal settlements against the provisions of the law.
“What is currently happening is that the fascist and faction-infested Zanu PF regime is illegally grabbing land on the periphery of urban areas and parcelling it out to Zanu PF supporters without the involvement of local authorities.
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“It is now common to have houses and flats being built on wetlands and some other such areas that are not supposed to be used as residential settlements,” he said.
With Harare, in particular, battling to control an intermittent outbreak of waterborne diseases such as typhoid, Gutu blamed this on the government and the ruling party.
“These new urban settlements, besides being unplanned, do not offer any refuse collection and other related supplementary services to residents.
“We are acutely aware of the fact that the crumbling and bankrupt Zanu PF regime is illegally acquiring urban land, as an election campaign gimmick, in preparation for the make-or-break elections to be held in 2018,” he said.
“The Zanu PF regime has a sordid reputation for being cruel, authoritarian, corrupt, fascist and anti-people.”
