Remember “HOUSING FOR ALL YEAR 2000?”
Back in the 1980s and 1990s the Zimbabwean government loved slogans so much it came to define the nature of the politics of deceit favoured by the rulers. “Health for All by Year 2000,” “Housing for All by Year 2000,” “Clean Water for All by Year 2000,” “Education for ALL by Year 2000″ all clogged the public sphere. This was before the UN’s global commitments of the MDGs which were only adoptedĀ in 2000. Indeed Zimbabwe must have been way ahead by then! But it turns out it was all in the name of winning votes because many years later, things remain the same if not worse.
The following photo-essay documents Westlea, a “new” suburb that is yet another pointer of how far the country has lagged behind in providing “housing for all.”
Find water where you can
A child plays outside his ‘house’
A ‘gated’ residence
Safe water?