Suburban
Diana Nherera Suburban Reporter
The long-drawn case of stand owners at the Latimer wetlands in Greendale appears to continue dragging on after some of the stand owners decided to continue building despite an outstanding court hearing on the matter.
The stand owners recently resumed building risking losing their investment should the court rule against them in the pending case.
Last week, town planning expert Mr Canaan Mugayi said resumption of construction on a wetland on Latimer in Greendale following earlier demolitions by some developers is a sad way of inviting health problems due to hypertension as there is a building restriction on the (Greendale) Local Development Plan.
Mr Mugayi, who is also resident of Greendale, was commenting following the resumption of construction on the wetland despite demolitions by the City of Harare earlier this year.
“It is not surprising: planning law is not easy to understand for the general public. Only when the bulldozers come again will the developer realise that there is no wisdom in playing ‘jambanja’ (disorder) where the law is very clear.
“What may be difficult to understand for the people who were allocated stands in the vlei is that the creation of those stands ignored a very important clause that there is a building restriction in the Local Development Plan.
“Without uplifting this condition, any act of development is illegal.
“And the courts will not be sympathetic with them,” he said.
Mr Mugayi said those continuing to build are ill-advised.
“Yes, they were allocated the stands by council but nowhere did council ever say build, building plans still have to be passed before construction takes place. And the plans cannot pass given that there is a building restriction. Proceeding with construction is a sad way of inviting a stroke.
“Whoever is resuming construction on the vlei is ill- advised,” he said.
For the past few years, Greendale residents, through the Greendale Residents and Ratepayers
Association, have been fighting against the developments on the Latimer wetlands.
In 2019 they won a court order stopping developments on the wetland and early this year, the City of Harare listed the Latimer houses among the illegal developments in Harare.
The municipality gave notice to the owners of the houses to demolish the structures but they approached the courts seeking to stop the demolitions arguing that it was the same council, which allocated them the stands.
The matter is still pending but some of the stand owners are continuing to build before the courts have ruled on the dispute.
The demolition of the houses was supposed to be done in April but the owners of the stands approached the High Court seeking an interdict to stop council from demolishing their properties.
In February this year, council gave the owners of the houses six weeks to remove their structures or risk the municipality demolishing the properties. In a notice, City of Harare advised the Latimer Road residents that they had until April 1, 2021 to remove their structures.
But five residents from the area filed an urgent chamber application seeking an interdict to stop the municipality from demolishing their houses arguing they bought the stands lawfully from council before building.
The applicants state that they received offer letters for the residential stands in the Athlone area of Greendale from the City of Harare between 2016 and 2018 after paying for the land.
Last year, lawyers advised the City of Harare that the houses could be demolished as per the terms of a court order obtained by the Greendale Residents and Ratepayers Association (GRRA).
The GRRA has been battling to have the housing developments on the Latimer wetlands stopped.
In January, Harare Provincial Co-ordinator Mr Tafadzwa Muguti indicated that there were over 49 eviction orders which the Sheriff will be enforcing.
Government has since declared that all houses and buildings built on wetlands, open spaces reserved for schools, clinics, sports and recreation facilities, will be demolished and the owners must be relocated to suitable land.
