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John Sigauke Correspondent
The plan to house at least 100 000 civil servants countrywide as part of non-monetary incentives is the best thing the Government has done to its workers since independence. Government is facing a critical cash flow challenge which is incapacitating it to give its workers a pay rise. The workers themselves are not lost to that reality, thus they had not been demanding an increment for a long time. They have been, however, demanding non-monetary incentives such as land for residential stands and tax exemption on car imports. That should not be a difficult task for Government, is it?

The average salary of a civil servant is $400 per month. That salary has to meet many other financial obligations such as rentals, utility bills, school fees, food, clothes and many others. An average price of a residential stand in a high density suburb goes for $8 000. With a take home of around $400 per month, the dream of having a roof above a civil servant’s head will forever remain a pipe dream.

There are vast pieces of land around major towns and growth points across the country which Government can parcel out to its workers to develop into residential stands. Thus, the promise by the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Cde Saviour Kasukuwere, to give at least 100 000 civil servants residential stands is laudable. It is feasible for Government to provide those residential stands considering the abundant land that Zimbabwe is blessed with.

There is always cynicism when Government makes such promises. It is incumbent on Government to prove the sceptics wrong by walking its talk. Fortunately, elections are still away otherwise detractors would have misconstrued it as vote buying.

Civil servants have been falling prey to unscrupulous land barons who have been taking advantage of their desperate need for urban residential stands. Most of these Government workers lost a fortune in a bid to secure stands. The recently conceived civil servants housing scheme will put a stop to the wanton fleecing of civil servants by phony developers.

Minister Saviour Kasukuwere must be applauded for putting civil servants on the priority list in house delivery. As he doled out residential stands to the youths, he did not forget a very important constituency. His ministry has also made strides in pursuing Zim-Asset objectives.

According to Zim-Asset cluster of social services and poverty eradication, Government is set to create 300 000 stands from 2013 to 2018. Manicaland is expected to deliver 21 830 houses by 2018 while Harare, Midlands, Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and Mashonaland West are expected to deliver 105 935; 56 760; 15 100; 28 772 and 23 819 respectively. Mashonaland Central is to deliver 16 607, Matabeleland South 12 500, Mashonaland East 11 776 and Mashonaland West 20 269.

Other ministries which have the capacity to provide civil servants with non-monetary incentives must take cue from the Ministry of National Housing. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development for instance, must direct the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority to exempt civil servants from paying import duty for cars and this should be a once off exemption.

The promised residential stands will massively shrink the national backlog for houses which is currently at 1.25 million. The mooted creation of three new towns near Harare and one near Bulawayo is also expected to assist in clearing the housing backlog as 150 000 houses will be built.

While Government is trying to house its workers, measures must be put in place to make sure that land barons are not created once again in the civil service unions themselves. Residential stands must only be given to first time home seekers and thorough vetting must be done.

Just like the current policy on farm ownership, there must be a one stand one family policy. Multiple stand ownership must not be allowed as it will harm the scheme the same way it harmed the land reform programme.

Government is currently grappling with the challenge of farm ownership. Audits have been commissioned with unpleasant results.

Of course, there are couples who are both in the civil service but a one family one stand policy will make it easier for Government to house over half a million civil servants. However, the allotment of residential stands must consider proper town planning principles. Our towns must expand outwards rather than closing all the spaces found within the towns. In Harare for instance, the expansion must result in the amalgamation of Harare with the surrounding dormitory towns like Chitungwiza, Nyabira, Norton and Ruwa, among others. Mutare must grow outward to merge with Zimunya, Penhalonga and other surrounding places.

Most of the farms that surround big towns and cities must be acquired and developed into residential stands. Of course there is the issue of food security that is at hand to be raised but what is of greater good for the majority of the citizen must carry the day.

President Mugabe recently urged the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing to consider the fact that land is a finite resource which can easily run out if dished out extravagantly. President Mugabe said Government would be for ever faced with demands of land from youths but the land itself is finite. In that regard, the relevant authorities must now consider expanding skyward. President Mugabe himself encourages the ministry to consider constructing high rise buildings to conserve land for posterity. Only a selfish person can object to this noble idea.

But acquiring a stand is one thing and constructing a house is another thing. Government must not end with the provision of stands but it must facilitate access to cheaper loans. The National Building Society (NBS) which was set up in May this year to deliver affordable, low cost but decent housing for the low-income bracket could be the first port of call. Civil servants should get cheap loans from this bank to construct their houses.

The building society is set to assist Government in meeting Zim-Asset objectives as it has adopted a two-pronged approach to the delivery of housing. One of them is internally driven, relying on its own resources including NSSA land banks to put its own housing developments such as Glaudina in Harare.

The second model which is collaborative brings together multiple stakeholders. Under this arrangement, NBS works with developers who have their own existing land and its role is to provide affordable finance over a long tenure of up to 25 years. Noble as it is, NBS must make itself available in all provinces.