Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. PROPERTY developer, Vevhu Resources, has started implementing the Local Government and Public Works ministry’s approved layout plan in Spitzkop, Harare, despite residents having occupied open spaces meant for recreation, schools and other institutions.
The implementation is being done with relevant adjustments in order to accommodate those settled on residential stands as per the original working plan, better known to the residents as the Old Plan, NewsDay Weekender heard.
While addressing residents at the weekend in Spitzkop Lot 14, Vevhu Resources general manager Khumbulani Magama assured residents that the implementation would only result in the removal of those who are allocated stands in places reserved for public institutions.
He said the civil works have already started and they hope that they will complete the process within the reasonable time frame.
The land was subject to litigation with Greater Spitzkop Residents Association taking the firm to High Court alleging they want to evict them from their residential stands which they paid for.
Vevhu Resources clarified to the residents during the meeting that the original layout plan for Lot 14 Spitzkop accommodates 3,595 stands, including shops and institutions.
Magama said the company will accommodate all genuine homeseekers, thereby removing any resistance offered by the various associations saying it was necessary for both Vevhu Resources and the associations to work hand in glove to advocate for its implementation instead of the Approved plan.
Vevhu Resources stated that they intervened in 2017 to prevent the eviction of 264 occupants by Zvimba Rural District Council before the subdivision and layout plans were approved by the ministry.
He said by the time the plans received approval on July 19, 2022, the number of settlers had grown to nearly 3 000 saying this increased the challenges associated with regularization.
Magama said the increase in the number of settlers amongst the first settlers were as a result of certain group of persons who made themselves superintendents before they began allocating others vacant stands and were being paid.
He said these groups of persons wanted the project be handed over to the council a proposal that was rejected by Council in a meeting held in Chinhoyi Provincial Offices.
“The original working plan underwent revisions to comply with statutory requirements, including the allocation of 40% of the project for high-rise flats.
“These changes led to accusations from some settler groups that the company was deliberately altering the plan to evict people. However, we maintain that the high-rise requirement was intended to optimize land use, potentially increasing the number of homesteads from the original 3,595 to approximately 8,000,” Magama told residents.
He said the formation of the Greater Spitzkop Residents Association on July 29, 2022 indicate an external influence which had been driving the wrong narrative that their company want to remove them from the stands.
Vevhu Resources said they went to court to evict those settled on land reserved for schools and clinics saying the Greater Spitzkop Residents Association opposed the application and that led to the application for their eviction being granted by the court.
Vevhu Resources recently won a High Court application to evict those allocated stands on places reserved for school, clinics among other institutions.
However, the Greater Spitzkop Residents Association appealed the application at the Supreme Court and the matter is pending.
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