Zimpapers Logo

Minister Mumbengegwi

Mabasa Sasa at the United Nations
Zimbabwe’s Land Reform Programme is a shining example of how African countries can ease the pressures of migration to urban centres by creating economic reasons for people to remain in, and develop, rural areas.

Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi — who was standing in for African Union Chair President Mugabe — said this at the Africa Urban Agenda Dialogue here on Thursday.

Present at the dialogue were UN Secretary-General Mr Ban Ki-moon,

African Union Commission Chair Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, UN-Habitat executive director Dr Joan Clos, and African Development Bank president Mr Akinwumi Adesina among other dignitaries.

Minister Mumbengegwi told delegates that Zimbabwe’s land reforms, which were fast-tracked from the year 2000, had eased rural-urban migration.

“One area (in which we are dealing with rural-urban migration) is our Land Reform Programme, where people have been given opportunities of bettering their lives in rural areas.

“Hundreds of thousands of our people have been given land and they do not need to stay in the cities because they have opportunities in the rural areas,” Minister Mumbengegwi said.

Minister Mumbengegwi said African cities were overburdened by large populations for which they struggled — and often failed — to provide essential services such as electricity, water, healthcare and schools.

As such, he said, much work needed to be done to develop both urban and rural areas so that “we put the infrastructure where our people are”.

The Foreign Affairs Minister had delegates in stitches when he made reference to an incident at a high school public speaking event where a pupil said: “I love Zimbabwe, beautiful Zimbabwe, my Zimbabwe. It’s the only country where romantic candlelit dinners are compulsory.”

This was in reference to the massive load-shedding that has affected Zimbabwe and many other African countries.

Dr Dlamini-Zuma stressed the importance that cities had in the broader development matrix as enunciated in the African Union’s Agenda 2063, while Mr Ban said urban areas were “at the heart of many global challenges and opportunities”.

He commended global leaders for appreciating this in Sustainable Development Goal 11, which “calls for an urban transformation, which requires political will and the capacity to co-ordinate many actors and stakeholders. If cities join forces with Governments, the private sector, civil society and urban planners, they can become the hubs for climate action and sustainable development solutions,” he said.

AfDB chief Mr Adesina said the bank would soon establish an Urban Municipalities Development Fund, adding that over the past decade the institution had spent US$3, 8 billion to provide safe water and decent sanitation to 20 million people across the continent.

He slammed the fact that 61 percent of Africans in urban areas actually resided in slums, saying talk of “slum upgrades” was unacceptable because “a slum is a slum”.