Minister admits housing scheme abuse

By Lance Guma
14 March 2006

The over-hyped housing scheme known as ‘Operation Garikai’ actually benefited government officials, politicians and their relatives. This is according to the local government minister under whose supervision 700 000 people were made homeless under ‘Operation Murambatsvina’. Ignatius Chombo might have thought he was telling the world something they did not know but several private media reports had already exposed the large-scale corruption involved. Chombo’s admission seems to be an attempt at damage limitation given the embarrassing nature of several revelations.

In principle the scheme was supposed to benefit those made homeless after the destruction of their homes but as with most things Zimbabwean, political connections soon reigned supreme. Several politicians and civil servants who were never affected by the government crackdown helped themselves to the few houses and stands made available. Soldiers in particular are alleged to have been dominating allocations in several parts of the country. Many thought this was a deliberate ploy to appease the military and hence consolidate Robert Mugabe’s grip on power.

The government now says those who were corruptly allocated homes under the scheme will have them withdrawn, but the country has been down that road before with the controversial farms seizures as an example. Despite pronouncements of a ‘one man one farm’ policy several ruling party chefs still retain ownership of multiple farms.

Chombo pointed out that Beitbridge, Bulawayo and Gwanda are prime examples of areas that had a lot of undeserving people getting houses. Although government declared they would make available over a million houses and residential stands it never allocated sufficient resources to make this a reality. Critics say the whole scheme was meant to pull the wool over the eyes of the international community, particularly the United Nations, whose envoy Anna Tibaijuka produced a damning report following her assessment visit.