Harare declares war on land barons

Harare declares war on land barons

Nevanji Munyaradzi Chiondegwa

Harare Metropolitan Province will be evicting illegal settlers from wetlands and land earmarked for development projects, a senior government official has revealed.
The Metropolitan Province has also set up a task force to deal with the land baron menace that has long saddled the municipalities of the province.
This was revealed by Harare Metropolitan Province’s Secretary for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Mr Tafadzwa Muguti in a press statement today.
Mr Muguti said; “There has been a resurgence of land invasion by land barons in Harare Metropolitan Province with land invasions taking place in most of our wetlands and land earmarked for development projects.”
The invasions have seen land barons invade the Monavale vlei, one of the world acclaimed Ramsar site.
A Ramsar site is a rare or unique wetlands, or wetlands that are important for conserving biological diversity. Once designated, these sites are added to the Convention’s List of Wetlands of International Importance and become known as Ramsar sites.
They are named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the Ramsar Convention was signed.
Space barons have also invaded land earmarked for housing complexes and commercial building under the Mbare Urban Renewal Development Project.
They took advantage of the delay in approval of building permits by the City of Harare to settle themselves.
Mr Muguti said, “The invasions across the province are largely influenced by the false belief that land invaders will be regularised by Government under the ongoing land regularisation programme.”
He said, “The Minister of State for Provincial Affiars and Devolution has therefore established a Provincial Task Force comprising of the Environmental Management Agency( EMA), the Zimbabwe Republic Police, City of Harare, Chitungwiza Municipality, Ruwa Local Board and Epworth Local Board to address the menace of land barons.”
He said, “The task force shall remove all illegal land invaders, demolish any illegal structures and arrest all land invaders as well as the land barons responsible for selling land illegally. It is important to note that Harare Metropolitan Province has a Zero Tolerance Policy on Corruption and Lawlessness.”