The rains that have continuously poured in some parts of the country have brought smiles and tears too.
It’s a predicament as farmers predict bumper harvest after a series of droughts in the recent years while some are losing properties worth mountains of money as flash floods sweeps across the country.
Most local authorities were caught unaware, as they now rush to find solutions to lend a helping hand to those affected.
Gweru has recently been evacuating some residents while Chitungwiza local authorities are conducting meetings to see how they can deploy resources to those in need.
Mutare city council has denied responsibility to address the problems of those affected and blamed private land developers.
Even though natural disasters are inevitable, the councils have to take responsibility for the impact caused by the excessive rains.
The game of underhand dealings within these councils to award and distribute land, even to the extent of approving development of stands in wetlands is the major highlights to the current disasters.
Local authorities approved people to settle in merely serviced areas without a proper water drainage system.
There is a sweet romantic relationship between council officials and land developers as they linger in the dark while putting people’s lives at stake.
Most of the affected areas are newly developed areas such as Clairemont, Tinshel and Montrose in Gweru chronicles poor town planning, services delivery and a flawed drainage system on the part of the city fathers.
In Chitungwiza, innumerable stands were allocated on undesignated land and wetlands, leaving people at the risk of disasters such as the recent floods.
The council is planning to raze down more than 11 000 houses that built on undesignated land.
Mutare residents in Dreamhouse, ZIMTA and Gimboki were recently left counting losses too after flash floods destroyed properties.
However, Mutare City council denied any responsibility for the predicament as it lays blame on land developers who leave without fully servicing the residential areas.
It boggles the mind that the city council would allow such botched deals to continue and has since left such non-serviced residential areas to continue like that from as far as 2008.
It is high time local authorities are called to book with regards to corrupt parceling out of stands on waterways, wetland and undesignated areas.
They allowed land barons to take advantage of desperate home seekers, robbing them of their hard-earned money.
It is also high time July Moyo’s ministry makes strides to revamp the whole land distribution system to put in place measures that protect citizens from such tragedies.
At this point, affected families in the country must receive the help they desperately need including food, shelter and other social welfare needs.
Failed service delivery, low level of accountability or corruption. It does not matter at this point who the council lays blame on, it is their duty and the chickens are coming home to the roost.
