IT is always difficult to lose all that you worked for. Many people sometimes fail to cope with the stress that is associated with monetary losses.
The medical effects are sometimes consequential with depression, neurosis and psychosis arising. Cases of suicide are reported if proper counselling is not done.
Depressive health disorder is a serious mental condition that sees about 4,4% of the global population being affected. It is now common that some settlements have to be demolished because people were settled on unsuitable land, usually by land barons who fleece many of their hard-earned income.
The National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1) outlines the strategies, policies, legal, institutional reforms, projects and programmes that ought to be implemented over a period of 5 years from 2021 to 2025 in order to achieve an accelerated, inclusive, broad-based and sustainable economic growth as well as socio-economic transformation and development.
About 14 national priorities were selected and among them are economic growth and stability, food and nutrition, governance, human capital development, environmental protection, digital economy, health and well-being, infrastructure and utilities, image building, youth, sport and culture, housing delivery and devolution.
This is a brilliant strategy that has potential to propel the country to an upper-middle-income economy by 2030 where the national income per capita will range between US$4 466 and US$13 846. NDS 1 requires everyone to co-operate and together, our country will be a success in few years to come.
Housing delivery is one key area that determines our destiny as a country. Houses that are secure, peaceful and dignified are a fundamental right for every citizen of this country and the delivery of affordable, sustainable, modern and functional houses dovetails with Vision 2030 as propounded by the President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The government has put a target of 220 000 housing units to be delivered during the strategy period and this can only be a success if land barons are dealt with once and for all. It is time government, through the Local Government ministry, improved land delivery for both urban and rural housing. Well-planned and environmentally-sustainable urban and rural housing settlements are dependent on appropriate and well-managed land delivery systems.
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NSD 1, therefore, calls on government to acquire at least 10 000 hactares of land in urban set-ups to develop into stands.
Zimbabwe has a lot of State land which falls under the jurisdiction of the Local Government ministry.
To decimate land barons, the responsible ministry should entertain applicants who seek to develop identified State land and the process should be expedited to get quicker results.
Land barons take advantage of the slow speed of processing of land applications by the Local Government ministry, therefore, giving rise to illegal settlements which sprout everywhere to evade the payment of rentals.
Demolitions cannot occur on duly-allocated land occupied by legal occupants. It is imperative that proper physical planning is undertaken in order to avoid haphazard sprouting of settlements.
Mnangagwa saw it very important to establish a local government and housing department in the politburo that should assist in housing delivery. That was noble as it allows for speedy processing of developmental land if the country is to close the 1,25 million housing gap in few years to come.
We expect all the departments tasked with housing delivery to work hand-in-glove to achieve what is expected within the prescribed timelines so that NSD 1 becomes a resounding success.
Health services should be improved. Work has already started on radiotherapy machines, magnetic resonance imaging scans have been installed at Parirenyatwa and Mpilo hospitals. The country is still battling brain drain because of poor working conditions including remuneration which the government should surely improve on.
Affordable land is a requirement for economic development. The peace of mind derived from owning a house is health for our bodies. We run with the mantra: Cheap and affordable housing for all by 2030!
