Hilary Muza 
DRIVING around the periphery of the Municipality of Harare, or even in some areas closer to the central business district, one is exposed to an irritating eyesore — the unplanned haphazard urban settlements whose image does not auger well for a city striving to attain world class city status.
This is not a problem common to Harare alone, but all the major cities, small towns, growth points and communal areas are tolerating this menace.
It turns out that over the past 15 years, our government through acts of omission and commission allowed anarchy to prevail which has resulted in the establishment of these substandard human settlements.
In 2017 through Statutory Instrument 102 of 2017, the President established the Uchena Land Commission whose mandate was to investigate cases of illegal parceling of urban land.
One would think that after the findings of this Commission that presented its report sometime in December 2019, government would come into its senses and allow sanity to prevail. Regrettably, that has not been the case.
The Uchena Land Commission’s findings and recommendations appear to just have been for public posturing without a genuine intention to nip the problem of land barons in the bud.
Every month, more urban land is being invaded particularly in Harare, by brazen, corrupt land barons and sold for a song to the prejudice of the local authority and/or the ministry of Local Government, Urban Planning and Development.
The Herald of December 11, 2019, reported that major culprits responsible for the creation of these menacing settlements were aspiring or sitting members of the House of Assembly who abuse their political office through allocation and appropriation of State land.
Top members of the ruling party were also fingered as being responsible for exerting pressure and undue influence on government institutions and processes so as to snatch valuable urban land for selfish personal interests.
Cooperatives were the major conduits through which the land scandal unfolded and most of their officials have gone underground after pocketing millions of dollars through illegal land sales.
Housing development has occurred on unplanned areas such as wetlands, under power lines, on top of sewer lines, on sites designated for institutional or commercial use and recreation centres as well as other public uses.
Almost all the settlements allowed for dwellings to be built without adequate services such as access roads, water and sewer reticulation.
The Local Government ministry should shoulder the blame for allowing our urban areas to be turned into slums because it has the ultimate authority to ensure maintenance of certain minimum urban development standards. As it appears, it shall take something next to a miracle for the non-available services like roads, water and sewer to be installed.
The land barons having pocketed the money from land purchasers and disappeared, no one but the government, can take responsibility for these shortcomings.
For, installing such services require millions of dollars that our broke government does not have presently and in the near future.
It is reported that about US$3 billions’ worth of land was illegally sold since 2005 with most of the cash going to into the pockets of private and corrupt individuals.
The land barons are cruel and ruthless and their greed has no limit since some of the stands were sold to several purchasers creating double and/or multiple sales in the result, leaving purchasers tearing each other apart in physical fights and/or court battles.
This brazen criminality has become common place with authorities showing very little interest in tackling it.
The Uchena Land Commission made interesting recommendations after identifying known culprits for investigation and prosecution but to date, we are still to hear of any single arrest of these land barons.
The issue is not just about having them arrested, but the State should ensure that it recovers the market value of all the land that it lost, and only the land barons should be held responsible.
Since independence, Zimbabwe had taken pride in the manner in which it looked after its cities by ensuring maintenance of high standards in urban development but political convenience and patronage, coupled with unbridled corruption has left our cities in a sorry state beginning approximately a decade ago. Latest attempts to demolish illegal structures are not helping much since some settlers re-occupy the land immediately after being evicted and an easy illustration is the High Glen settlers in Harare.
We need to show seriousness in arresting this escalating problem since it has far-reaching effects on future generations.
Legal instruments that have been established through the Constitution to ensure transparency in the acquisition and disposal of State land must be applied without fear or favour.
The Land Development Commission Act [Chapter 20:29] was promulgated in December 2017, but to date, it appears the Land Commission is doing nothing to protect the State’s interests against the savagery of land barons.
Muza is a Harare-based legal practitioner. He writes in his personal capacity.
