I phoned the Ministry of Local Government this afternoon to try and find out more about the plans to demolish illegal structures, and the reports from Ruwa that this has already begun. According to the person I spoke with (didn’t ask his name), the action currently taking place in Ruwa is targeting only tuck shops and is operating independently from the national government programme. He also said that the national government programme was actually aimed at protecting people, who were being taken advantage of by others who were manipulating the system. Hopefully, that protection for people includes providing them with alternative accommodation, or giving them a chance to register their home before it is summarily torn down as happened in 2005.

If you are in doubt about your structure, make sure it is registered with your municipal authority, e.g. Ruwa Local Board. If your address is registered with the board and you are receiving bills from your local authority at that address, he says, your home should be safe. However, if your property is not registered or you have concerns about whether your home will be destroyed, contact The Ministry of Local Government on: +263 712 804 880 or +263 4 791287.

This entry was posted on November 8th, 2013 at 4:30 pm by Amanda Atwood and is filed under Activism, Governance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.