Evicting residents without alternative inhumane: Chombo
October 28, 2012 in Local
Local Government, Urban and Rural Development minister Ignatius Chombo who
is also Zanu PF’s secretary for land, would not discuss the issue of the
many illegal settlements across the country and the risk being faced by the
settlers.
“The issue we should be discussing is the callousness and lack of feeling
shown by Sunway City,” Chombo said on Thursday.
“United Nations regulations and even our own laws say you cannot simply
evict people without an alternative. Why did they have to wait until the
start of the rainy season?”
Chombo denied that the evictions that took place at Arnold Farm in Mazowe,
where 50 families that had been allocated stands by the rural authority,
were meant to pave way for the First Lady, Grace Mugabe’s projects.
UN Habitat Programme manager for Zimbabwe, Peter Mutavati, said, “We are not
encouraging lawlessness, but our reasoning is in line with UN protocols and
the Habitat Agenda, which outlaws destruction of people’s homes without
alternatives.”
An estimated two million people are on the housing waiting list countrywide.