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Raymond Jaravaza, [email protected]

THE Kensington gated community estate, one of Bulawayo’s most ambitious upscale housing projects, is facing potential stagnation due to delayed regulatory approvals.

Despite having acquired the land from a private owner several years ago, the developers have not been able to secure a crucial development permit from the Umguza Rural District Council.

The absence of this permit hinders the project’s progress and makes it impossible to construct the essential civil infrastructure necessary for compliance with local regulations.

The gateway to Mzinyathini Gardens

Mzinyathini Gardens, located in the farming peri-urban area of Kensington, is an innovative housing project that is expected to have over 800 luxury homes upon completion. What was once barren land is gradually transforming into a four-phase trendy housing project.

The project aims to provide people in the diaspora an opportunity to build their dream homes in their home country.

Zazalizitha Khumalo, co-founder of the Mzinyathini Gardens project, expressed frustration with the bureaucratic obstacles posed by the Umguza RDC in granting the required development permit.

Without it, project beneficiaries can’t begin building their remarkable homes. These delays threaten to stall the development and progress of the high-end estate, whose potential for excellence could revolutionise the Bulawayo housing market. “The majority of beneficiaries of Mzinyathini Gardens are based overseas, and when they read stories about improperly built houses being demolished in other parts of the country, it’s natural that they will get jittery.

Mzinyathi Gardens

“We bought this land from a private landowner, and everything is above board, but we have to follow the rules and get a development permit before large-scale construction can take off. The Umguza RDC has been giving us the run-around for almost two years now, and we don’t know what else we have to do to get the development permit,” said Khumalo.

A gated community is a type of residential development that has controlled entrances and a closed perimeter wall and fences, offering privacy and security to its residents.

Khumalo said the project has met all the requirements as mandated by the local authority, but the failure to acquire the development permit has started to wear down the beneficiaries’ zeal to start building their homes. Demo homes have been built in each of the four phases.

“We are so disappointed because we responded to the clarion calls from President Mnangagwa, who is always encouraging people working overseas to invest back home. There was a time when the President was in Egypt, and some of our members met him there, and he urged them to invest back home.

“We are willing to do just that, and that’s why we started Mzinyathini Gardens. Our biggest hurdle is the way we keep being frustrated by officials in offices back at home who make it nearly impossible for us to plough our money back into various projects in the country,” he said.

Khumalo and his former schoolmates from Mzinyathini High School, who now reside overseas, collaboratively conceived the project aimed at recreating the advantages of residing in gated communities that they enjoyed while living in South Africa, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

In Zimbabwe, gated communities are rare and are typically exclusive to the country’s elite. Therefore, they intend to establish a gated community called “Mzinyathini Gardens” which will be among the most extensive projects of its kind in Bulawayo.

Mzinyathi Gardens

Efforts to schedule an interview with Colleen Moyo, the Umguza RDC chief executive officer to investigate the reasons for delays in granting Mzinyathini Gardens a development permit, proved unsuccessful despite numerous calls and written communication attempts.

Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister, Richard Moyo, who is also the Member of Parliament for Umguza, has pledged to investigate the issue.