By Loyd Matare
The City of Harare says it is moving to implement both immediate and long-term interventions to revive the dilapidated Mbare Matapi flats and overhaul infrastructure in one of the capital’s oldest and busiest suburbs.
Built in the 1940s as workers’ accommodation, Mbare Matapi was originally designed to house a modest population.
Currently, the blocks house three to four times their intended population, with years of neglect leaving residents exposed to collapsing infrastructure, sewage leaks, water shortages, and serious health risks.
Speaking after a tour of the flats by Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) chairperson Jessie Majome and her team yesterday, the city’s Head of Human Settlements, Edgar Dzehonye, said the crisis now demands urgent action.
“I think everyone has seen from this tour that there is an urgent need for attention to our flats,” Dzehonye said.
“This is something that we observed during our strategic planning period.
ALSO READ: City of Harare Defies Court Order, Leaves Mbare Residents in Squalor
“We made deliberate efforts to address the situation in a two-project approach. One is an immediate solution to what we are currently experiencing, and the other one is a long-term one.”
For the short term, he said council wants payments collected from residents to be retained at source so that it will be ploughed back into addressing the situations that are already there.
“Obviously, that would mean that we’ll have to attend to the other procurement challenges that we may have in terms of providing the material.
“But we intend to apply for an exemption so that we will be allowed to make sure that whatever is collected per block is then ploughed back into addressing the situation in that block,” he said.
He added that council will meet residents on Monday to agree on contributions and accountability systems.
“We want them to police each other to make sure everyone contributes and pays what is due.
“After they pay, we dedicate the entire amount back to address their welfare,” Dzehonye said.
On long-term plans, he said:
“The long-term solution would be captured in our Mbare Urban Renewal Strategy, which we intend to have as a major facelift of the entire Mbare.
“On the housing front, we intend to utilise the open spaces that are there and partner private players with money so that we construct decent accommodation.
“We then move these people from these flats so that they occupy the newly constructed sites…and then we reconstruct these flats to make sure we utilise the space we have to accommodate more people.”
“The population these flats were designed for has been outgrown three or four times. We need facilities that can contain that kind of pressure and demand,” he added.
