This is contained in the Zimbabwe National Statistics
Agency (ZimStat) report which was presented at a key stakeholders meeting in
the city yesterday.
The report is part of the 2022 Population and Housing
Census Results and the statistics agency is now engaging stakeholders to unpack
the census results for each province.
ZimStat director for demography and social statistics, Mr
Aluwisio Mukavhi, said at the time the census was conducted, Bulawayo had 665
952 people of which 307 871 were male
and 358 081 were females. He said the life expectancy for men was 59 years
while that of women was 65 years.
“The census established that there were 178 716 private
households with a population of 663 382 persons in Bulawayo province, resulting
in an average household size of 3,7 persons,” said Mr Mukavhi.
He said the dominant tenure status observed across Bulawayo
province was “lodger”, which accounted for 37,6 percent of the total while
“owner” status was at 30,2 percent.
According to the report, 18,4 percent of the city’s
residents live in relatives’ houses, 8,3 percent are tenants while five percent
live in tied accommodation (houses offered by employers).
The tenants according to the report, are those that live
alone in landlords’ houses while lodgers are those staying with the
home-owners.
Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution permanent
secretary, Mr Paul Nyoni, who represented Provincial Affairs and Devolution
Minister Judith Ncube commended Zimstat for providing a timely census report
saying the data will enable the city to plan better for the future.
He said while there are generally fewer housing units under
private ownership, there is increased impetus to provide housing stands in
Bulawayo.
“The target under the National Development Strategy-1 is to
build one million houses by 2025. I’m sure you have seen that over the past two
to three years, there has been increased attempts by Central Government and the
city council to provide more serviced stands for housing development,” said Mr
Nyoni.
He said there is need for Government, the Bulawayo City
Council (BCC) and the private sector to work together to clear the housing
backlog. Mr Nyoni said Zimbabwe cannot be an upper middle-income society when
the majority of people do not own houses.
The BCC, like other local authorities, has been facing
challenges in its quest to provide adequate houses to its residents but is
being complemented by private developers.
Bulawayo United
Residents Association (BURA) chairperson Mr Winos Dube however said there is a
need to do more to address housing shortage in the city.
He said living in rented accommodation was a disadvantage
because the properties cannot be used as collateral when tenants want to obtain
loans from banks.
Mr Dube said the city is lagging behind in housing
provision which has been confirmed by the fact that only 30 percent of
residents own houses.
He said while the partnership of the council and the
private sector in housing provision is commendable, there is a need to ensure
the houses being built are affordable to the majority of residents.
Property developer Mr Cris Mtungwazi of TCI International
Private Limited, said having fewer residents owning houses is not just peculiar
to Bulawayo but is a global phenomenon.
“Funding is the main challenge when it comes to housing
provision globally and Bulawayo is not an exception. The situation is however,
worse here where financial institutions that are supposed to fund housing development are not doing so,” he
said.
Mr Mtungwazi said it is not just the council that is
struggling to access funding but the private developers as well.
He said only a few individuals have savings to fund housing
development.
Mr Mtungwazi said diasporans constitute the majority of
citizens buying stands or building houses in most cities and towns. Chronicle
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