The Government is partnering with the private sector to provide housing stands to civil servants, reported the <a href="https://www.chronicle.co.zw/new-housing-deal-for-civil-servants-10percent-of-all-new-developments-reserved/">Chronicle.</a>
National Housing and Social Amenities Minister Daniel Garwe said that under the scheme, the Government sells land to property developers at discounted rates and then it is given 10 percent of the serviced stands.
The stands are then allocated to civil servants.
Following a week-long strike by teachers in early 2022, the Government promised to avail non-monetary benefits to civil servants which include housing, and payment of school fees for teachers’ children, among others.
Speaking during the tour of Radar Properties, King City project housing in Umguza District last Wednesday, Garwe said:
<blockquote>
We do not have all the resources such as adequate funding but we have affordable land.
We are therefore partnering with the private sector whereby we provide land and they service the land and give us the serviced stands for allocation to civil servants.
All we want is a small 10 percent of their serviced stands which we then allocate to Government workers.
</blockquote>
He said for every 2 000 stands serviced by private developers, Government gets 200 stands for civil servants.
Zimbabwe has an acute housing shortage which has resulted in the mushrooming of informal settlements across the country, mainly in peri-urban areas.
In 2020, Garwe said the country’s housing waiting list was 1.3 million according to aggregated data from the local authorities.
He said the Government had started a programme of seriously engaging private sector players like blue chip companies on the Stock Exchange, manufacturers, banks and, building societies, parastatals, pension funds, insurance companies, and mining houses for resources to clear the housing backlog.
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Pindula News

Govt Has New Housing Deal For Civil Servants - Minister Garwe

Victoria Falls City Council mayor Somvelo Dlamini last week told a full council meeting that the housing waiting list should be scrapped.
The city has reportedly exhausted all of its land for both residential and commercial purposes while there are over 18 000 applications for residential stands.
Dlamini’s call comes at a time when the council has announced that it will avail about 500 stands in both the high and medium-density suburbs. <a href="https://cite.org.zw/vic-falls-mayor-calls-for-scrapping-of-housing-waiting-list/">CITE</a> quoted Dlamini as saying:
<blockquote>
The report that we got from the council is that they are above 18 000 and this week we had 147 applications, so do we mean to say we just leave it open, people apply or it will cause a scenario where some will say I have been paying since 2001 and nothing has happened. What measures are we putting in place as a council to solve this?
</blockquote>
In response to Dlamini’s suggestion, the chairperson of the housing department councillor Nkayiso Sibindi said there was nothing much council could do. He said:
<blockquote>
You cannot stop someone from applying, it’s the same as applying for a job, curriculum vitae can be submitted in large quantities, but the one that we want, we pick and offer employment, so there is nothing that we can do about that. You are expected to give a professional answer.
</blockquote>
Deputy Mayor Patricia Mwale suggested that there was a need for the council to craft a master plan that will allow the city to acquire more land.
The Town Clerk Ronnie Dube said the council officers were going to apply their minds on the matter “and see how best we can resolve this issue.”
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