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Pardon Gotora
Government’s commitment to the provision of decent and affordable housing to the people of Zimbabwe is unequivocal. I stand by my belief. I have witnessed it first hand during my tenure of employment which is nearing a decade in the system.
I have learnt a lot during this period through experience, literature, exchange programmes, seminars and workshops, discussions with colleagues and superiors. I have also learnt from the patrons that we interact with on a daily basis.

In my previous article titled “Govt to house civil servants” published in this paper on last week, I applauded the exertions by the Government and the workers representatives to improve the conditions of service for the civil servants.

Other than salary increases, they agreed on leveraging land for civil service housing.

However, from a dissimilar dimension, it would appear as if the Government was not doing anything with regards civil service housing.

It seems as if, had it not been for the salary negotiations, Government was not going to address civil service housing.

My feedback platform was inundated with questions on why the government was not addressing the issue of civil service housing, yet they are among the low-income earners in the country.

Others were asking some specific projects and programmes where civil servants benefited and the selection criteria used.

I tried to respond to some of the questions one by one on email, but I find it prudent to make public some of the rejoinders that I made.

These were mainly founded on the programmes and projects that have benefited the civil servants, though they might not be getting due recognition nor making the intended impact due to the magnitude of the housing demand challenge.

The point I should make henceforth is that, Government does not cater solely for civil servants as far as housing provision is concerned. Unlike in salaries where they pay only civil servants, when it comes to housing provision, they cater for every citizen, civil servants included. Any infrastructure developed by Government, be they roads, schools, information communication technology, hospitals or dip tanks, they are beneficial to the public, including civil servants.

Hence, the arguments put forward by some readers that Government should only concentrate on civil service housing and leave the rest to the private sector and community-based organisations do not hold water.

To begin with, Government revitalised a civil service housing micro-finance scheme known as Civil Service Housing Loan Fund (CSHLF) administered by the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.

The loan attracts an interest rate of 5 percent per annum and repaid over a maximum period of 10 years.

The purpose of the loan includes, but not limited to, purchase of stand or house, house construction and house extension.

For one to be eligible for this loan, she/he should have been serving for a minimum period of 2 years inclusive.

The funding comes from Treasury through the annual budgetary allocations pronounced by the Honourable Minister of Finance and Economic Development at the end of each year.

The Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing chair an inter-ministerial committee that decides on the equitable allocations to specific ministries and Government departments depending on their establishment.

This means that, those ministries or departments that have huge establishments get a bigger chunk while those with smaller establishments get a smaller chunk commensurate with their staff.

The Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing advise the respective ministries on their allocations, and attach copies of the loan application and loan agreement forms.

The respective ministries will then invite their members of staff to submit application forms from which they will select deserving members and recommend to the Ministry of Local Government.

The Ministry of Local Government will verify the forms and process payment into individual accounts. The selection of beneficiaries is not done by the Ministry of Local Government; serve for their own members of staff, but the respective ministries and departments.

The amounts allocated depend on the individual’s ability to repay as proved by the attached current payslip.

To date over 7000 civil servants have benefited from this facility.

It is Government policy that whenever it allocates land to a local authority, land developer or housing cooperative, 10 percent of the serviced stands should be retained as Government commonage for its own use.

This 10 percent is remitted free of charge to Government through the State Land Office.

In most cases this commonage is allocated to civil servants for housing. Stands are allocated on leasehold, but with option to purchase.

The value of the stand is pegged at 20 percent of the market value for the high density, 30 percent of the market value for medium density and market value for low density stands. Although I do not have figures to support this argument, a lot of civil servants have benefited from this programme since independence in 1980. Then there are instances where the Government either serviced stands or built houses or flats for sale to the public through the Department of National Housing in the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.

They reserve 20 percent of the serviced stands or completed flats for sale to civil servants. For instance, Willowvale Flats in Harare and Mbizo 22 high density stands in Kwekwe, the 20 percent reserve for allocation to civil servants had terms and conditions that were different from those of the members of the public. They attracted a lesser deposit compared to the public and the repayment period was relatively extended to allow civil servants to afford the instalments.

Some readers asked why the prices for the stands sold by the State Land Office differ from those sold by the Department of National Housing, with the latter being somewhat “expensive” yet it is the same Government.

The answer is simple. The State Land Office receives the 10 percent remittance free of charge from the local authority, developer or investor. No costs are incurred save for the cost of land because urban land is sold and there are other administrative issues to be addressed such as processing of lease agreements and title deeds. Thus the price of stands is cheaper. Yet the Department of National Housing invests in the development of the stands from planning, surveying, engineering designing to the actual servicing of the stands or construction of houses or flats to completion.

The money expended in these investments needs to be recovered to revolve the funds.

The sinking funds will then be used to fund other projects in that cycle.

For instance the National Housing Development Loan Facility (NHDLF) and the National Housing Fund (NHF) operate using this modus operandi.

There is also a Special Purpose Vehicle known as the Housing Guarantee Fund (HGF) which is beneficial to both civil servants and non-civil servants.

The only challenge currently is that the fund is under-capitalised and the building societies are not issuing mortgages, instead they have adopted the micro-finance mechanism of up to 10 years for the “special” ones.

This is how it operates.

The fund is used by government to guarantee those who wish to borrow mortgages from building societies – though most of them are now merging with banks.

The Government would guarantee 100 percent for civil servants and 90percent for non-civil servants.

For instance, if a civil servant wants to buy a house for $20 000 for argument’s sake, the Government will guarantee the full amount and no deposit will be required.

But for the non-civil servant, he/she will be expected to raise at least 10 percent of the value, that is $2 000 and the Government will guarantee the remaining 90 percent.

Again, no figures but a lot of people benefited from this facility before the adoption of the multi-currency system.

Therefore, it will be naïve to argue that government was not doing anything to address civil service housing.

In my view, all that is required is to improve on the information management system and create efficient and effective databases of all the programmes and projects and the beneficiaries.

This will assist in reducing double or multiple dipping on future projects meant for civil servants.

Pardon Gotora writes in his personal capacity.

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