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| City of Masvingo Mayor Collen Maboke |
Clayton
Shereni
Some people have for long
blamed Masvingo City Council for failing to bring municipal services to the
sprawling high density suburb of Victoria Ranch but the local authority has now
said it currently bore no administrative responsibility in the area.
Victoria Ranch was built by
land barons on Masvingo Rural District Council (RDC) land but with proper
procedures not being followed.
Masvingo RDC Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) Martin Mubviro was recently quoted in a radio programme saying
the local authority did not have an obligation to service the area as it was
built by private individuals without council’s involvement.
This, therefore, means the
suburb is like an orphan with not parental care from any local authority.
Due to its urban nature and
closeness to Masvingo urban, residents tend to blame the city for erratic piped
water supplies, lack of refuse collection, lack of sewer infrastructure and a
barely maintained dusty road network.
The city has always
maintained that the land barons, most of whom have very close connections to
the ruling Zanu PF party, who grabbed huge chunks of land on the peripheries of
the city and sold residential stands should be held accountable and made to
provide optimum services.
The area has about 16 land
baron companies that refer to themselves as ‘land developers’ but that have
barely developed the area besides allowing people to build their houses even
directly below high voltage power lines and very close to a garbage dumping
ground.
Some of the land barons were
last year subjected to serious questioning during the Justice Tendai Uchena-led
Commission of Inquiry into the Sale of Land in and Around Urban Areas since
2005.
Before the government
appointed enquiry, the national government was conspicuous by its deliberate
failure to take action.
The land barons have made
millions of dollars dividing the State-owned land into residential stands which
are still being sold to desperate home-seekers to this very day.
Since 2005, the land barons
allowed the home-seekers to build their houses without first servicing the land
as is standard procedure in urban development processes.
Speaking during the first
mid-year 2020 budget review held at the Civic Centre on September 07, City of
Masvingo Acting Town Clerk Engineer Edward Mukaratirwa said the city did not
have administrative responsibilities in the area although the matter was of
great bother to everybody.
“Victoria Ranch is still
under the jurisdiction of Masvingo RDC (technically) although government gave
out land to different developers who then sold pieces of land to individuals.
We are having meetings where we discuss the interests of the city in the area.
Last Friday (September 04), we held a meeting in which we discussed that
issue,” said Mukaratirwa.
He expressed optimism that
the area will be incorporated into the city but only when a consensus is
reached with the ‘land developers’.
“We constantly monitor
progress in the area and also play an advisory role. That area will be
incorporated into the boundaries of the city and at one point, all
infrastructure will be handed over to council. It’s not like we are turning a
deaf ear because from time to time, we engage the developers,” said
Mukaratirwa.
However, impeccable sources
claim that land barons have on many occasions rejected City of Masvingo’s
generous terms to be included into the municipality’s commonage.
“They want to be
incorporated into the municipal commonage free of charge even though they made
millions of dollars selling State land. That’s impunity. The municipality
cannot afford to do that because it is failing to provide standard services in
its current commonage,” said a source.
The city has reportedly
demanded that the land barons who made enormous profits selling State-owned
land to private individuals pay a specified amount of money so that water and
sewer reticulation can be expanded into Victoria Ranch.
