BULAWAYO Metropolitan Province yesterday held belated World Habitat Day commemorations at the New Mazwi village community centre in the city with Bulawayo mayor Martin Moyo officially handing over 197 two-roomed houses to former squatters from three informal settlements.
PATIENCE RATAMBWA OWN CORRESPONDENT
The celebrations were held under the theme “Voices From the Slums” with Moyo saying the council wished everyone lived comfortably with all the basic needs at hand.
“Bulawayo has three informal settlements — Killarney, Richmond (Ngozi Mine) and Trenance — which house approximately 700 families, with one family having at least six members each,” he said.
“These are saddening numbers and we are working to the best of our ability to provide proper housing with water, electricity and roads to each and every citizen, so that we curb diseases that emerge from these unsafe places.”
The council provided 197 two-roomed units with Blair toilets for the former squatters.
“We have managed to build 197 two-roomed units with Blair toilets and only a quarter of the people living in informal settlements have benefited,” Moyo said.
“We have not forgotten the remaining people, efforts are underway to upgrade Mazwi village so that more people join the others.”
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Provincial Affairs minister Eunice Sandi Moyo said the new houses showed government’s commitment to provide housing for everyone.
“Mazwi village gives hope to those still living in slums that the government can build a better place for them, a place with clinics, schools, proper water systems and electricity,” she said in a speech read on her behalf by acting provincial administrator Fungai Nkuzuwalela.
The project was made possible with the help of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which provided the former squatters with temporary shelter, building materials and arrangements for health services while the permanent structures were being built.
Various churches helped with temporary health facilities while World Vision provided building material and helped maintain peace among the settlers.
Sizalendaba High School has been built for the residents in Mazwi village and pupils have already started using the school, although it is not an examination centre yet.
The World Habitat Day was designated by the United Nations to be celebrated on the first Monday of October to reflect on the state of towns and cities and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter.
It is also to remind citizens that it is their responsibility to shape the future of their cities.
