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Cde Saviour Kasukuwere

Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister, Saviour Kasukuwere is unhappy about Bulawayo City Council’s refusal to work with central government on the Umvutsha housing project.

In Parliament on Wednesday last week as we reported yesterday, he criticised Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Martin Moyo for his recent remarks that the 110,000 housing waiting list was no reason to panic.

The city is fast running short of land for its housing and industrial expansion.

Because of that it often clashes with Umguza, the rural district council that totally encircles the country’s second largest city.  Bulawayo’s housing waiting list 110,000 and growing, yet land for home seekers, especially low-income earners, to build houses is getting finished, fast.  Only the few better-resourced are able to buy from private developers who charge at least $3,000 for a 300-square-metre high-density stand, $10,000 for a 600-square-metre property in middle-density suburbs and as much as $20,000 for 1,000 square metres to an acre of land in low-density zones.

Council itself is charging as much as what private developers charge and has announced that it might be forced to reduce the sizes of the stands it is selling so more applicants can be accommodated.

But even in that context, Clr Moyo recently ridiculed the offer by the government for collaboration in regard to provision of stands to low-income earners, including youths.

As a result, the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing is going it alone to provide 20,000 stands for youths at 300-ha Umvutsha.

“It would have been my desired route to work with the city authorities and give them land,” said Minister in Parliament, “but some of them have publicly said they do not want the land, with 100,000 people on the waiting list. I cannot force cities which have said that publicly and I can quote the Bulawayo Mayor.  He said the 100,000 people on the waiting list are not an issue.

How can 100,000 people be not an issue to a city father? We are saying we will move into Bulawayo and ensure that we give land to the people; irrespective of their political persuasion, we are going to house them.”

Minister Kasukuwere’s remarks came a few weeks after Clr Moyo said that the city’s housing backlog was “not a crisis”.

“I believe as a local authority we’re already on a positive in terms of availing stands to our residents. Our housing backlog is just over 100,000, and this is not a crisis figure, considering that according to the ZimStat census, we’re just above 600,000 in terms of population. I doubt whether there’s a need to panic,” said the mayor.

There is no plausible reason why Clr Moyo spoke against the government’s offer.  It is simply unproductive politics, the MDC-T council thinking that working directly with the government to provide decent housing to residents would be a confirmation of its failure to deliver.  We find it most disturbing that a local government authority working with central government to deliver 20,000 stands can be regarded as delivery.

Suddenly, the head of a council which has publicly rejected the census results for allegedly undercounting the Bulawayo population conveniently quotes them to score what he thinks is a political point.

The expectation is for the local authority to be always willing to work with central government, or any other well-meaning group or groups to deliver services that Bulawayo residents need.

Clr Moyo must be reminded that political leaders are elected to serve their electors.  Once elected, they are expected to take off the party jacket to serve everyone, including their once-up-on-a-time-opponents for the good of all.  We don’t expect him and his team to play politics, least of all with something as close to people’s hearts as housing.

Therefore his council should join forces with the government not only for the success of the Umvutsha project but also in the local authority’s long-running negotiations with Umguza Rural District Council for more space.  Such partnership should be extended to other projects that are to the benefit of the people.

Clr Moyo has to understand that Bulawayo will only be able to grow spatially if it reaches an understanding with Umguza, with the government playing a central role.  So it would be dangerous for any council official to conduct themselves as if they don’t need support from anyone.  Doing so would be wrong ethically and suicidal politically because the masses are quite smart.  They know who is playing politics with their welfare and come election time, they would have their chance to discard those who subject them to a life of homelessness.