MANYAME Rural District Council (MRDC) has ordered illegal settlers in Seke communal areas to pull down their structures as the local authority moves to restore sanity in the area.
BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA
In an enforcement order signed by council chief executive officer Farirai Guta, the settlers were given a seven-day ultimatum to destroy their structures and vacate the area.
“Therefore, take note that in terms of Section 32 of the [Regional, Town and Country Planning] Act, you are hereby ordered to stop all illegal subdivisions , construction works and any other forms development on the land with immediate effect-to demolish all structures and restore the land to its original state within seven days and to cease any other authorised use of the land, remove all the materials on site and vacate within seven days from the date of this order,” read the notice.
The majority of the settlers acquired the land through bogus housing co-operatives and land barons who corruptly allocated them land and pocketed the money.
“Whereas it appears to the MRDC that development is being carried out on pieces of land in all villages in wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, Seke district, in contravention of the Regional Town and Country Planning Act, 1996 (Section 32), that is, subdivision of part of the villages into stands for residential and other uses, pegging of stands, digging deep wells and construction of various structures without approval of MRDC being the local authority in the area,” Guta said.
