Back to Index

Wave of evictions hits Harare
Augustine Mukaro , The Zimbabwe Independent
February 17, 2006

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/news/2006/February/Friday17/4231.html

A FRESH wave of evictions looms in the city after the Harare Commission ordered all tenants occupying municipal houses without certificates of ownership to vacate.

Residents who spoke to the Zimbabwe Independent said notices to vacate rented houses were issued in Mbare, Mufakose and Dzivaresekwa.

A copy of the notice in the possession of this paper, issued to a Dzivaresekwa family this month, gives it a 30-day ultimatum to vacate the house.

"This notice serves to advise you to vacate the above premises within thirty (30) days from 9th February 2006 and expiring on 10th March 2006 without failure," reads the notice.

"Your occupation of this property is in contravention of city of Harare's housing policy in relation to rented properties. Failure to vacate the premises within 30 days will result in an eviction order being served on you after which you may be forcibly removed."

The notice advises the tenants to take the warning seriously and seek alternative accommodation.

Many recipients of the notices said the houses were allocated to their parents between 1969 and 1971.

"We have lived in this property from 1971 when our parents were allocated this house by the council," Albert Mano of Dzivaresekwa 3 said.

"All children born after 1971 have been registered as tenants of the house."

Mano said in Dzivaresekwa home-ownership certificates were issued to people who were not sharing toilets.

"Residents even contributed money to build separate toilets but the money was misappropriated by a councillor in 1985," he said.

Mano said if the notice was enforced it would affect more than half of Dzivaresekwa tenants.

Reports from Mbare and Mufakose indicate that the notices were served on residents at the beginning of December and there are fears that council could be working to obtain eviction orders to forcibly kick out the tenants.

Contacted for comment yesterday, council officials at Dzivaresekwa district office referred all questions to Town House.

Council spokesperson, Madenyika Magwenjere, said he could not comment on the matter as he was attending a series of meetings away from his office.

"I can't help you today because I have meetings to attend. Phone me tomorrow," he said.

Combined Harare Residents' Association chairman, Mike Davies, said resident could only be evicted from a property if they were breaking a lease agreement or not paying their rentals.

He said his association would soon be taking legal action to protect the interests of residents

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP