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Ruth Butaumocho

African Agenda

Urban migration issues are becoming topical at various forums that deal with global questions, amid concerns of poor urban planning that is giving headaches to governments throughout Africa.

Urban poor planning has over the years contributed to the detriment and decline in living standards of many across the world, with several African countries battling to rid cities of illegal and informal activities across.

Illegal parcelling out of land, change of land use and haphazard planning of residential and commercial hubs in most African countries are some of the major reasons that have given birth to slums and mushrooming of illegal settlements along major highways and servitudes. 

With thousands of people migrating to cities from rural areas every year in search of better opportunities, there has been an unprecedented demand for land to engage in several economic and social activities, not withstanding council by laws.

Local authorities have also been on the forefront of fuelling the mayhem by parcelling out land to informal traders without following the proper procedures. 

Rather than properly plan for such developments, local authorities are hurriedly allocating land on pockets of open spaces along major highways and servitudes, creating the chaotic situation that Zimbabwe and other African cities find themselves in.

The road servitude is the full width of the space reserved for a road from the properties on one side to the properties on the other side.

Sadly, unregistered businesses, had taken over these spaces conducting all sorts of business, and in some instances with the blessings of the city fathers.

It is against that background that the Government has had to step in and restore dignity of cities by demolishing shacks and shelters on road verges in major cities in and around Zimbabwe.

Illegal traders have mushroomed on road sides, selling bundling materials, furniture, garden supplies and even cars among their goods, causing a danger to road users and preventing work needed in many areas to regulate traffic and widen roads to ease congestion.

Demolitions started in earnest in Harare and Chitungwiza on Monday after vendors and other traders failed to heed a three- day ultimatum to vacate their illegal premises. 

On the other hand, councils chose to ignore the growing problem and did nothing in recent years. 

The situation was worsened by their decision to make some of the vendors pay licensing fees to local authorities oblivious of the illegalities.

The decision by the Government to bring sanity to the cities through carrying out demolitions should be applauded at all cost as the country makes concerted efforts in ensuring that it attains the upper middle income economic status by 2030.

Of course in such exercises, naysayers are quick to throw spanners in the way, waving a political card, alleging abuse of human rights. Ironically, these are the same naysayers, who have also been advocating for proper urban planning in cities in line with international standards.

The decision might be painful to the affected people, but in the long term, the nation will rejoice in the new cities outlook once local authorities properly allocate land to informal traders in places where there are ablution facilities and good inflow of customers.

However, such feat will not be achieved overnight, but is a continuous consultation process where several stakeholders will need to strategise on providing proper infrastructure for informal traders who are usually ill-resourced and may not be in a position to walk into a bank and get a loan.

Such an exercise would need to be expedited to ensure that the same people whose businesses were demolished would not return to the same sites and erect similar structures.

With a lot of people migrating to urban areas in search of opportunities, local authorities would need to be thorough in urban planning and in allocation of resources to ensure that the majority can benefit from such an exercise. 

There are many examples of good planning in Africa, although at a small scale. According to the UN-Habitat, several countries among them Morocco, Mauritius, Rwanda have been able to carrying out proper urban planning through multi-stakeholder engagement, where each interested group has had their aspirations taken care of.

Informal sectors in Rwanda have their own places where they operate from, while paying taxes, while the same is happening in Morocco.

 Urban planning is not something for tomorrow. 

It should be there today, because the speed of urbanisation in Africa is phenomenal and requires that Governments move with speed to accommodate the people, while providing them with business opportunities.

According to the 2017 Drivers of Migration and Urbanisation in Africa report by the United Nations, more than half of the global population now live in urban areas. 

This figure is projected to increase to 75 percent by 2050, at a growing rate of 65 million urban dwellers annually, and Zimbabwe is part of this matrix.

Because of the shift in lifestyles, most of the world’s resources are now being consumed in cities, where the majority of people live. 

Harare and other cities in Zimbabwe are not immune to such global trends, hence the need by local authorities to align their goals and visions with global trends, through proper urban planning.

In addition, challenges Zimbabwe is encountering as a result of poor urban planning resulting in these demolitions cannot be treated in isolation, but is a microcosm of ballooning of populations across the world.

Building urban housing, roads, public transport, drainage systems and electricity supplies, even the creation of green spaces, all play a role in determining the resilience of cities and their residents. 

It is for that reason that Government is taking a proactive approach in determining the developmental trajectory in cities.

That trajectory requires proper urban planning, well laid out infrastructure through both the Government and the private sector buy-in to ensure that the country’s aspirations of attaining the upper middle income status by 2030 are met.

Urbanisation is one of the most important transformations that African countries will undergo in this century, to cater for the needs of all ages, economic aspirations while addressing challenges that residents face on a daily basis.

That development calls for adequate solutions that go beyond installing sufficient pipes and drainage systems in densely populated areas or demolition of illegal infrastructure. It calls for a sense of ownership by the citizenry.

The consequences of urbanisation can be complex, there is therefore need for multi-stakeholder involvement so that the issues are not confined to physical urban planning alone, but other challenges such as climate change and migration that arise due to urbanisation are also tackled.

If managed properly, urbanisation is not totally a bad idea. 

With adequate resources, proper planning of infrastructure, adequate allocation of resources and the involvement of the informal traders, urbanisation has the potential to propel growth, create jobs, and end widespread poverty. 

Without a holistic participation of stakeholders, particularly local authorities, the Government and the informal sector representation, the influx of informal settlers will continue.

More shacks and other illegal infrastructure will continue to be built on servitudes.

With additional millions of people expected to migrate to cities by 2040, the problem around urban planning cannot be ignored.

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