The Harare Residents’ Trust (HRT) has bemoaned the destruction of wetlands in Harare with the fragile ecosystems being converted into residential areas by authorities and land barons.
In a statement, HRT said wetlands are being destroyed by corrupt councillors, council district officials, town planners and political party leaders working in cahoots with land barons. It said:
The heavy rains that have fallen in Harare have exposed the corrupt for selling people residential stands on the natural paths of water.
The people who have settled on these wetlands and the sellers involved are equally culpable.
There is no way that water will change its natural course without bothering the illegally settled.
A sustainable solution is urgently needed for Zimbabwe to address housing shortages and the preservation of wetlands…
Some of the people are given the land during the election campaign period in return for votes.
Every rainy season the residents who illegally settled on these wetlands experience flooding, and they lose thousands of United States dollars worth of their possessions like furniture, clothes and food.
HRT said that during their tour in Budiriro, they established that victims and land barons all protect each other.
It said the victims refuse to disclose who sold the stands to them, insisting that they had council-issued documents giving them the legal rights to be in those places. Added HRT:
The land barons, council technocrats and councillors all insist that there is no more land to relocate these people.
There is an unholy alliance between the victims and the officials involved in the illegal land sales.
Wetlands are areas where water covers the soil or is present either at or near the surface of the soil all year or for varying periods during the year.
They help to filter pollutants and excess nutrients from the water, improve water quality, reduce the risk of flooding downstream, store large amounts of carbon, help to mitigate climate change and recharge streams and dams, thereby providing water to people and animals.
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