Zimbabweans were left in shock after videos and images of bulldozers destroying houses in Budiriro went viral on social media yesterday.
Many took to their social media accounts to blame the MDC-Alliance led Harare City Council (HCC) for being inconsiderate and heartless by rendering hundreds of families homeless during the rainy season.
Below are just a few of the comments we extracted from Twitter:
Derick Tsimba: ”Harare City Council demolished 190 Budiriro houses, at least these house owners should have been relocated elsewhere by HCC & being so heartless to demolish housing structures during the rainy season shows no concern for humanity on the part of the HCC”.
Machemedze: ”Why do MDC Alliance led city council chose rain season to demolish houses, at least 190 illegal houses were demolished by Harare City Council in Budiriro 5 yesterday.”
Tafadzwa Makara: ”African leaders are greedy for money they don’t care about our lives, stay at home keep distance and then they order for demolition in Budiriro, Harare City Council and MDC- Alliance is this smart governance your promised people in 2018?”
Government’s secretary for information Mr Nick Mangwana also channelled his blame at the MDC Alliance just before the houses were demolished.
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| Budiriro House Demolitions: MDC- Alliance Deny Responsibility |
In a series of tweets, the MDC-A threw the blame to the government saying it was responsible for the Budiriro demolitions and that some senior government officials including Mr Mangwana and the Minister of Local government Hon. Daniel Garwe preempted the demolitions back in November.
They also tweeted that Mayor Jacob Mafume, who was recently arrested on allegations of corruption involving the allocation of housing stands, was on record condemning the government’s planned demolitions.
However, acting Harare City Council spokesperson Mr Innocent Ruwende told State media that the houses were on stands illegally parcelled out.
Another council official told the same publication that ”According to the instruction at hand we have been tasked to demolish between 180 to 190 houses built illegally here,”
Although official court papers show that it was The Harare City Council that obtained the court order to demolish the houses, it is also important to note that the government controls operations of local authorities through the Ministry of local government.
