BY BLESSED MHLANGA
THOUSANDS of families in Epworth, who were facing displacement, have been offered a reprieve after the local council announced plans to regularise illegal structures and service stands in the dormitory town of Harare.
Epworth Town Board chairperson Batanai Masunda said while council was still doing a comprehensive audit of illegal settlements within its jurisdiction, over 10 000 homes were illegal structures, which had no access to potable water and sewer reticulation systems.
“This is a problem created by Zanu PF councils and the late Amos Midzi, who during campaigns parcelled out land without planning. The land was used for political campaigns and because it was unsecured, those perceived as not supporting them at that time were displaced,” he said.
Masunda said his council was moving to ensure that property owners have council paperwork proving ownership of stands and access to service delivery.
“We have so many illegal settlements in Epworth which we are now regularising. There are people who will have to be moved because they either built on roads or land that is meant for schools. We do not want to have people who are moved at the whims of political parties and for patronage purposes,” he said.
Epworth legislator Ethrage Kureva (MDC Alliance) said the party was trying to leverage on its dominance in the dormitory town to show that it was ready to govern.
“We have to bring development into Epworth, starting by building a shopping mall, so that our people don’t have to commute to Harare for shopping, banking and other utilities. We have held meetings with our councillors so that we mobilise resources and investors for our town and all is in the right direction,” he said.
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Epworth gets water supplies from Harare City Council, which is battling to provide adequate service to its own residents.
Harare mayor Herbert Gomba said his council was looking at buying mobile water treatment plants, which will be moved from one water body to the other to ensure they support small towns like Epworth to access clean water.
“We are aware of the burden that we face in supplying adequate water to everyone in Harare and towns that depend on us for water supplies, given that we had poor rains and are being forced to decommission dams. It has become important to get mobile water treatment plants, which will allow us to move from one water source to another,” he said.
