UNDERFIRE authorities said this week they were taking a tougher stance against armies of dodgy land dealers who have illegally parcelled out wetlands for the construction of houses.
Both government and local authorities have been under pressure to tackle the crisis since waves of floods tore through Budiriro, one of Harare’s biggest high density areas last week, swamping homes and destroying properties.
The floods triggered a return to the spotlight of reports that home seekers have been purchasing municipal and state land unlawfully from land barons, ignoring warnings that some of the properties would be constructed on wetlands.
In an interview with the Zimbabwe Independent this week, Prosper Mutodi, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Climate, and Wildlife, said presentations had already been made in Cabinet on the issue.
“A radical stance is what is already needed to stop the land barons,” Mutodi said.
“They have been parcelling land in wetlands. Now, you can see that the implications of doing so are very dire, some people have lost lives and properties,” he said.
Matondi said the issue was among those being prioritised in government, where recommendations have been made to a Cabinet committee responsible for wetlands.
“The issue is under consideration by the Cabinet committee. We submitted our papers several times and now the question is how to move it forward on what is being agreed. There should be conscious efforts to protect wetlands. Then there is also the issue around the gazetting of some of the wetlands. We have got several already internationally gazetted but there are others which need to be gazetted, especially those close to major water works and catchment areas. Those issues needs to be addressed.”
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Precious Shumba, director of Harare Residents Trust (HRT), told NewsDay recently that land barons were to blame for the problems being faced by the capital city’s residents.
“Flooding is predictable in wetlands and low lying areas such as Budiriro residential area,” Shumba said.
“With all that knowledge, corrupt people in council and the government have been collaborating with land barons to allocate people residential stands on wetlands and water pathways without any consideration of the impact of their actions.
“If you visit and interview some of the victims, they reveal that identified council officials have misled the City of Harare by collecting money from the land barons and promising the desperate home seekers that nothing will happen to them,” he said.
Last year, the government revealed that it was finalising policies and procedures that will be incorporated into the Environmental Management Act to create an environment-specific operational fund for regulation of industries.
This followed concerns that mining companies were not compensating for the environmental damage they caused.
There have also been issues raised about the country's extreme land degradation. Human and animal lives have been lost as a result of trenches dug by sand poachers and miners.
But the country is currently grappling with a myriad of environmental conservation problems.
As a result of the growing crisis caused by environmental degradation, the government has developed policies, acts and resolutions to address the problems.
Reports said the Bulawayo municipal police arrested 140 illegal miners since January last year for panning for gold panning near the city’s water bodies, causing massive siltation.
This was also revealed in the council’s environmental issues report that includes degradation of Greater Bulawayo and its water catchment areas.
