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Govt temporarily suspends demolitions ?
By Lance Guma
18 July 2005
The government says it has temporarily suspended the demolition
of structures in low density suburbs to give the owners 10 days
to have them 'regularized' with the city council. Most analysts
say they are not surprised by the brief amnesty as most Zanu PF
politicians were resident in those areas being targeted. Operation
'murambatsvina in the poor high density suburbs never gave any such
breathing space to residents to register their structures.
Business ventures operating from residential premises and some without
licences have all been told to register and pay taxes with the Zimbabwe
Revenue Authority. Local Government and Housing Minister, Ignatius
Chombo says the suspension had been necessitated by complaints of
council officials failing to locate copies of plans and because plan
approvals were taking too long.
Government hypocrisy is further highlighted by the u-turn on upmarket
shopping mall, Samy Levy's in Borrowdale, Harare. After threatening
to demolish it for not having planning permission the government apparently
negotiated with the owners and backtracked. Poor Zimbabweans have
not been so lucky with overzealous policemen not listening to any
explanations from home owners, some of whom had approved structures
but did not have their plans nearby.
The Chairman of the Combined Harare Ratepayers Association, Mike
Davies, says the suspension is linked to the visit by South Africa's
Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who apparently expressed
her government's displeasure at the operation. Mugabe is also begging
a billion US dollars from South Africa to try and salvage an economy
in tatters. Suspending the demolitions is seen as one of the key
conditions.
Davies says most of the residents in the wealthy suburbs are paying
a fortune trying to regularize their plans. Government claims that
council did not have plans from the 1960's or earlier was just a
reflection of administrative incompetence. Davies says he is worried
the authorities will use the 10 day period to collect as much information
as possible on people with structures that they can destroy.
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