SQUATTERS living at Ngozi Mine, a Bulawayo City Council rubbish dump site, have appealed to the local authority to allow them to permanently settle at the site saying they do not foresee the government providing them with better housing.
LINDA CHINOBVA OWN CORRESPONDENT
The homeless people appealed to council to consider allocating them some land at the dump site since it could not provide them with decent accommodation. A Ngozi Mine resident, Albert Ncube, said council should allow them to build permanent houses as they had no hope of ever being allocated housing stands.
“We do not foresee the government providing us with decent houses now,” he said.
“The process seems to be taking long and that is why we now want council to allow us to build our homes at the site so that they will not have to worry about us.”
George Sango, who has been staying at the dump site for more than five years, said they had been made to complete forms for stands, but nothing materialised.
“In the past, were made to fill in some forms and up to now, nothing has happened,” he said.
“We haven’t been given an explanation why we are not getting decent accommodation, but all we get are different people from various organisations visiting us and telling us to be patient, but the question is for how long?”
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Another resident Melody Chigauke said they continued to suffer the wrath of law enforcement officers that raided their shacks regularly.
“We have to face law enforcers who are unkind to us. They come here time and again and raid us,” she said.
“That is why we want council to allow us to legally build decent structures as we are aware that we are illegal settlers at the moment,” she said.
Hundreds of people live in shacks made from plastic and wooden poles. Acting Bulawayo mayor Gift Banda said it was not possible for the Ngozi Mine squatters to be allowed to settle there permanently as the land was unfit for any human settlement.
“We understand their plight, but it is unfortunate that they cannot be allowed to permanently settle at the site because as it is, they are illegally settled there and the area has not been serviced meaning it is unsuitable for settlement structures,” he said. He added the squatters had not been forgotten, but financial constraints hindered council’s housing programme.
“Because of the economic challenges that we are faced with, we are unable to service any stands and that is why we have not given the squatters stands of late,” he said.
“Our plea is that they be patient with us and as soon as the stands are ready, we will make them available to those on the waiting list.”
