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Herald Reporter
At least 480 families in Dzivarasekwa Extension have benefited from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation project that constructed low- cost houses for the poor over the past five years. The foundation is an American charity organisation that gives aid to the poor in Third World countries.

The housing project was implemented with other partners such as the Homeless People’s Federation.

Some of the beneficiaries were displaced following the Government’s 1990 clean-up campaign that was aimed at bringing sanity to the cities and towns.

Some beneficiaries that spoke to The Herald expressed gratitude towards the foundation, saying the project had significantly changed their lives as they had become proud owners of houses.

“I have become a proud owner of a house through this project. Before I came to live here, I was a tenant in Dzivaresekwa and life was not easy as we had to live under harsh conditions at the hands of an unkind landlord.

“Having my own house has greatly changed my life as I now have freedom and peace of mind,” said 60- year-old Mrs Nancy Mahachi.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded the project at a cost of $5 million, part of it which was used by the Harare City Council for servicing the land while the rest was channelled towards construction of houses on 180 to 200 square metre stands.

The programme began in 2010.

To date, 60 out of the 480 houses under the project have been successfully completed, while the rest are at various stages of construction.

However, while officially handing over the houses in Dzivarasekwa recently, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation former deputy director for special initiatives Dr Melanie Walker said the project was unlikely to be extended as it was in its final year.

“I just don’t think on behalf of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation there will be an extension of this grant but there should be other projects underway from many donors around the world who are considering how to support Zimbabwe and the way forward,” she said.

Dr Walker said while the grant for the project would be ending this year, it was pleasing to note that the city council had plans to continue with similar projects in other local suburbs.

Harare Mayor Councillor Bernard Manyenyeni said: “We realise that we have been aware for more than a year that this facility is not going to be renewed, so we have started working on other options so that this model can be replicated on a bigger scale.

“We are talking to three, four, five different parties to see if we can raise more money for similar projects for more rollouts of affordable housing,” he said.

Mayor Manyenyeni said the project was part of the slum upgrading programme that was aimed at improving the living standards in the 63 documented slum settlements in and around Harare.

“After this project we are moving to the Gunhill area to relocate the 21 families that are sitting on a piece of commercial land to a well-planned area for housing development in Mabvuku,” he said.

Harare is targeting to construct 105 000 housing units by 2018 under the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset).