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Herald Reporter
MORE than 100 people in Glen Norah A whose houses are likely to be demolished by the Harare City Council have vowed to fight council officials to stop the demolitions until they are given alternative accommodation. This comes after the council threatened to demolish 365 illegal structures in the high-density suburb after serving the occupants with 48-hour eviction notices before postponing the demolitions, which were slated for last week.
Council said the structures were built on wetlands and recreational facilities.

When The Herald crew visited the area, which is adjacent to Shiriyedenga and Chembira primary schools and bounded by Zvimba Street, Mushayabandi Street, Mutimurefu Road and Sebakwe Road, at least 100 people were seen barricading the two entrances to the area with precast concrete pipes and a haulage truck with a trailer and cars.

They were wielding weapons including golf clubs, catapults and hoe handles.
In an interview, chairman of the Zimbabwe Bird Housing co-operative Cde Caesar Kunaka said the 365 families occupied the area after registering with the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development.

“We did not settle just like that but we are a registered co-operative. The land has been lying idle for ages while they are failing to address accommodation shortages in the city.

“We have this reaction team and we are all prepared to fight for our cause. They have no love for the struggling families. The only way forward is to engage us in a dialogue than to treat us like animals,” said Cde Kunaka.

The city has a housing backlog of two million.
He blamed politicians for giving them the green light during election period in 2013 to occupy the land and later turned against them.

“Politics is at play and Government authorities should intervene on our behalf as we hear them day in day out saying they will parcel out 250 000 houses and not destroy them. This is portraying the country negatively and everyone needs to have shelter.

“The council officials are calling for such a barbaric move and are willing to destroy our houses by all means yet they are occupying luxurious houses bought for them with ratepayers’ money,” he said.

Cde Kunaka said council officials came with loud speakers on Wednesday afternoon to announce that they should vacate the area to pave the way for demolitions.

He blamed council officials whom he said were changing goalposts after engaging in dialogue over the piece of land.
“We cannot be moved out in the absence of a court order. We are a registered co-operative which is known by the ministry of SMEs. A director from the ministry came and was shocked to hear about the news. We will fight for our properties and I did not invest more than US$10 000 on the house for them to come and destroy as they wish.

“Last year they served us with eviction notices but we are complying with environmental regulations.
“We contributed a lot of money in this co-operative which was used on graders which cleared the roads among other various forms of infrastructure,” he said.

In a statement, the city’s corporate communications manager, Mr Leslie Gwindi, urged the illegal settlers to voluntarily leave or face evictions.