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This article participates on the following special index pages: Summary
of the tour of Operation Garikai sites by the Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee on Local Govt The committee is chaired by Honourable Margaret Zinyemba (Mazowe West). Other members of this committee are Hon. Trudy Stevenson (Harare North), Hon. Gift Chimanikire (Mbare), Hon. Editor Matamisa (Kadoma), Hon. Faber Chidarikire (Chinhoyi) , Hon Matimba (Bikita East) and Chief Malaba (Matabeleland South). Objective of the
tour: 1. Hatcliffe Extension: There are about 3
000 stands at the site but the exercise had set a target of 520 houses.
This target has been missed. Individuals and groups would build the other
houses because the government had no fuel and money. The constructed houses
are yet to be floored. No one is living in the houses. People still living
in plastic shelter, provided by UNICEF. Water had been connected
to the Harare main system and the beneficiaries have to buy individual
meters for their stands. Meanwhile, UNICEF is supplying the residents
there with water on regular basis. Plans for the houses
are being sold for $2, 1 million from Harare City Council, according to
a Mr Karuona from the City’s Department of Works. This charge covered
the inspectors’ visits to check on the construction. The Ministry of Local
Government, Public Works and National Housing were yet to draw up the
payment terms for the beneficiaries. The explanations given by the army
and the council were unclear on this issue. The Catholic Church
has provided beneficiaries with plastics roofing and some poles as temporary
shelter while the construction goes on. 2. Whitecliffe However, they have
managed to bring water from Lake Chivero but are yet to connect sewerage
system. There were unclear explanations from the army and the city council
on this matter. There is a total of
9 000 stands. Under Phase 1, they have 459 stands and four demonstration
houses. Of these 459 stands, 277 are at roofing stage. The target deadline
was August 31, 2005. There are problems at 11 of the stands with large
boulders hindering construction. They will use dynamite to blast the boulders,
according to the military. Under Phase 2, there
are 366 stands while in Phase 3 there are 201 pegged stands. No one is
living at Whitecliffe. Questions of who had been allocated stands there
were raised. The MPs wanted to know how they would harmonise the lists
published in the media and the waiting list for Harare City Council. The
military and City officials explained that they would be sitting down
to try to sort out the issue. There are 1 157 people working on the reconstruction exercise at this site. There is no sewerage. 3. Hopley Estate The issue of Eddies
Pfugari’s property at Whitecliffe was also queried. The response from
Colonel Gwanetsa was that since Constitutional Amendment Number 17 had
become law, issue to do with land would not be contested in court but
the government would pay for developments Pfugari made. The Officer-in-Charge, a prison officer at Hopley said the soils there were too sandy. They had no cement, and neither did they have fuel and money. The government allocated $1 trillion for the Operation Garikai for the whole country. Most of the time, the workforce was idle, chatting, doing nothing productive. He said there were
currently 1 000 families at the site but all staying in small plastic
shelter, provided again by UNICEF. On the issue of water,
the crisis there is extreme. The people were waiting for the arrival of
water from UNICEF for most of the day when the Parliamentary Committee
visited. There was no water by the time they left in the afternoon. 4. Majubeki Lines
in Mbare Key Issues that arose;
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