The demolitions of poor people’s homes and other structures across the country to deal with illegal occupations of State land are mainly driven by three factors: politics, power, and money.
The NewsHawks cited sources as saying President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi are using power and politics to create a new land market where money would be the main determinant of land occupations and settlements. One unnamed government official was quoted as saying:
The minister has made it clear to us in government what’s going on here. The land belongs to the President, which means he uses his power for its spatial distribution and his politics of patronage and loyalty influence the dynamics of it.
But in the end, money will take centre stage and the land will now be sold at market rates, creating a new land market which is driven by power and politics. It’s a symbiotic relationship.
Since the beginning of February this year, authorities have demolished houses and settlements built on land acquired illegally in peri-urban communities including, for example, Gutu and Mushandike in Masvingo province, Chipinge in Manicaland, Dema and Goromonzi in Mashonaland East and different other places.
The illegal settlers bought the land from village heads and land barons linked to ZANU PF.
The NewsHawks reported a source as saying it is also the government’s intention to sell the land after demolitions to create a new market in which ordinary people pay fair value for land even though Mnangagwa and other ZANU PF leaders got land for free. Said source:
To be sure, the demolition of informal houses and structures is not a new phenomenon in Zimbabwe and elsewhere.
What is new is some of the political actors, policy approach, frequency and intensity, as well as the motives and visibility which do vary.
What is new is the intensity, frequency, and agency (visibility and changing dynamics of its triggers and mechanisms of its unfolding in specific contexts).
There are three objectives of the demolitions: politics, power and money. These are the real underlying motives.
From the top, that is the Office of the President and Cabinet down to the minister’s office and government officials’ positions, they are all aware of the agenda.
The President and the Minister of Justice know very well what this is all about. It’s an elite project being driven by those who own land and houses which mostly they didn’t even buy in the first place. It’s hypocrisy of the worst order.
Of course, the rule of law must apply whenever there are illegal activities and criminality, but it must be applied even-handedly not just to the poor and vulnerable as the situation shows at the moment.
In 2005, the ZANU PF-led government launched “Operation Murambatsvina” (Clear Filth) which resulted in mass evictions of urban dwellers from housing structures and the closure of various informal sector businesses throughout the country.
According to the United Nations, 700 000 people were forcibly evicted from their homes, made homeless or lost their source of livelihood.
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