After international condemnation, Mugabe launched a scheme to build new house, Operation Garikai Hlalani Kuhle. It was an abysmal failure and, five years on, people are still homeless. Harare and Chitungwiza combined have a backlog of over a million people who want houses. Government initiatives to build new houses in the past year have been a drop in the ocean.
Mugabes Hlalani Kuhle houses still have no electricity or water supply and no toilets. In true Zimbabwean spirit, though, people have devised their own ways around the problems. In the sprawling town of Chitungwiza, where a stand costs more than $3,000 and accommodation is getting more expensive, houses are returning. These are not only new homes for hundreds, but are also a source of income for many pensioners whose savings were wiped out by the Gideon Gono era of hyper-inflation.
I built this room out of desperation. I am not employed and cannot afford the rentals. I therefore decided to build this other room so that the tenants can help me pay the bills, said Andrew Nyoni, who lives in a two-roomed house. These new houses are as inconspicuous as possible and are made of cheap bricks, because people are wary of losing their investment again.
People from Chitungwiza town council have not said anything about the cottages and, therefore, we have hope that we are going to be left alone, said Munyaradzi Gwena. I pay $30 for my room and even though it is small I have a roof over my head and have access to water and electricity things that I did not have at Hopley Farm where the government had resettled me.
Hopley Farm has a bad reputation. There are no basic facilities and pregnant women have died there because of the lack of transport to get medical help. There is no clinic at the camp, dubbed the camp of death. Women we spoke to felt that their minimal access to healthcare contributed to the deaths of their babies. Others suspected that their babies died of cold because they live in plastic shacks, said Amnesty International Deputy Africa Director Michelle Kagari.
While many have soldiered on in the murky shacks in Hopley some have preferred to returned to their destroyed homes to start afresh. I came back here because this is my home. Family and friends livehere and here schools are available. The schools at Hopley are far away and my son had to walk for at least 8 km to get to secondary school, says another resident.
With the return of people from rural homes and camps, landlords have taken the opportunity to increase rents. A room in Chitungwiza costs an average of $50 and people have seen building what are called side pockets as a route to the elusive US dollar.
Post published in: News