This comes as President Mnangagwa has directed relevant
authorities, that include ministries, Government departments and agencies to
leave no stone unturned in bringing sanity to the country’s local authorities
that he said had failed Zimbabwe.
The President said corrective measures must be taken to
bring order to the country’s growth points, towns and cities that have seen the
mushrooming of new settlements, albeit without the requisite facilities such as
water, sewer, electricity and roads around the country.
In the midst of the confusion are land barons, working in
connivance with local councils, that have been fleecing desperate home-seekers
by allocating them land on wetlands and other areas earmarked for other
purposes.
The governing party directed its officials to weed out any
party members dabbling in the illegal selling of residential land from the
party as part of an exercise meant to rid Zanu PF of rotten apples.
According to a Government document, Zanu PF officials who attended the
inter-ministerial meeting were told to make sure that in future people are
elected to positions in local authorities on merit and not merely popularity.
“The party, Zanu PF, should adequately explain what the
President has directed, and which Government is about to do. The party must
ensure none of its structures, office bearers, and/or officials stand in the
way. Above all, the party should, from now onwards, revise and re-fashion its
selection criteria for elective officials to ensure our public affairs are
manned and managed by people with the key competencies. We have seen the costs
of deploying characters who may be popular but wield no relevant skills
required in running affairs of our municipalities.
“Never again should we blindly select candidates who run on
party tickets. Municipalities and rural councils are about service delivery to
the electorate. This is only competently done by structures which have a
well-balanced set of skills which interact harmoniously for the benefit of home
seekers and ratepayers. We have to reinvent our local Government politics.”
In his address to the nation last week the President slated
urban councils, that are mostly run by opposition parties, for failing the
nation.
The current wet spell exposed urban councils after houses
in Harare, Chitungwiza, Gweru, Mutare, other towns and growth points were
flooded.
“Government is deeply concerned with the illegal expansive
construction in wetlands and river basins as well as the construction of houses
without the provision of requisite infrastructure such as roads, water, sewer
and electricity. The current excellent rains received across the country have
exposed and lay bare the extent of problems associated with unplanned
settlements in our urban, peri-urban and growth points.
“Henceforth, relevant ministries are being constituted into
working groups that will focus on social service delivery as well as arresting
the negative impact of the chaotic, unplanned illegal settlements in growth
points, towns and cities.
“Meanwhile, alternative spaces have to be urgently
identified and developed for relocation of families with houses built in
wetlands and other undesignated areas. The Ministry of Housing and Social
Amenities, along with other ministries, departments and agencies must
immediately identify such areas and ascertain the quantum of affected
households”.
The President is living up to his promise that there will
be no sacred cows in the fight against corruption, with the anti-graft broom
set to sweep away even those in the politburo who could be found on the wrong
side of the law.
“Zanu PF and this administration will never allow the party
to be a haven of malcontents and criminals. I thus exhort party cadres and the
citizenry at all levels in line with our national development agenda to be
guarantors of a corruption-free
Zimbabwe. Report all cases of corruption to the Zimbabwe
Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP),” said
President Mnangagwa.
However, some with links to the party are desperately
trying to escape from the long arm of justice by throwing mud in the current
exercise, notably sucking in ministers in their cases, something that the
Special Anti-Corruption Unit has said it will guard against.
Wellington Peyama, one of the persons who is being
investigated for dishing out residential stands in Chitungwiza, who also claims
to be a member of Zanu PF has been trying to throw mud at the Minister of
National Housing and Social Amenities Mr Garwe.
However, sources within the anti-corruption busters said Mr
Peyama will have his day in court to answer charges of dishing out stands to
desperate home-seekers in Chitungwiza.
Under President Mnangagwa’s watch, several ministers and
top Government officials have been arrested on corruption charges with two
former Cabinet ministers losing their jobs after being implicated in graft.
Going forward, President Mnangagwa said all members, across
all party structures, must reflect on the party’s unassailable revolutionary
character upon which the Government continues to build the country towards
Vision 2030 to be an upper middle class economy.
Meanwhile in order to bring back sanity to urban councils,
the Ministry of Environment and Tourism working with EMA will the lead the way
in mapping wetlands around the country so as to come up with a masterplan of
all ecologically sensitive spaces which must not be disturbed by human
settlements.
That having been carried out, the Ministry of National
Housing and Social Amenities, and the Ministry of Local Government and Public
Works will step in to identify and quantify all places in flood-prone areas, on
illegal spaces and other irregular places to jointly establish “the magnitude
of likely displacement from unavoidable demolitions”.
Along with the Ministry of Local Government and Public
Works, the Ministry of Land, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural
Resettlement should identify suitable alternative land on which to relocate
families and households which will be affected by the impending programme.
Relevant ministries are also expected to draw, and redraw
plans for orderly settlements both on new spaces and those reclaimed after
demolitions with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development expected to
mobilise funds for the construction of new planned settlements that should
result in the development of the real estate sector, a sector which can
contribute as much as 20 percent to the country’s GDP.
The Ministries of Energy and Power Development, Women
Affairs, Community and Small Medium Enterprise Development will also be roped
in to add the new settlements to the national grind and also bring sanity to
cooperatives respectively. Herald
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