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Provide houses before demolitions, BCC told

by Court Reporter
13 Oct 2014 at 08:11hrs | Views

BULAWAYO - THE City Council has been urged to speedily provide alternative accommodation before destroying houses built on undesignated sites.

The pleas comes at a time when the municipality has said it plans to demolish all illegal structures in an exercise that would target mainly Killarney and Ngozi Mine where unapproved land developments are most common.

Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Ignatius Chombo has declared that where permanent structures have been built, the local authority which is demolishing the structures should provide alternative accommodation.

He said the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) should provide alternative accommodation before demolishing houses built on undesignated sites.

"In other areas where building has been done and people are staying, government is saying provide them with alternative accommodation and they demolish at their own expense. An illegality remains an illegality," Chombo said.

Thousands of residents have built illegal structures at Ngozi Mine and also at Killarney.
The BCC and other municipalities intend to demolish thousands of houses and other structures that were erected illegally to ensure that all developments conform to prescribed land uses.

Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Martin Moyo has in the past said there were a few illegal structures to be demolished in Bulawayo compared to other cities such as Harare where they are prevalent.

Recently, First Lady Grace Mugabe slammed the demolitions of houses by MDC-T led councils.

Although she warned Zimbabweans against allocating themselves residential stands, she said the demolitions should only take place when the affected people had been offered alternative accommodation.


Source - Chronicle