National Housing and Social Amenities Minister Daniel Garwe has said that the government is working on introducing legislation which would make it illegal for home-seekers to buy land from illegal land barons.

He made the remarks whilst touring Mabvazuva Housing Scheme under Goromonzi Rural District Council, Housing and Social Amenities. He said:

Gone are the days where people are going to be buying stands from illegal dealers or land barons; that is a thing of the past.

Anyone who is going to be seen or if we hear that there is a transaction between a home-seeker and an illegal land developer, both of them will go to jail because the home-seeker would have participated in an illegal deal knowing very well that he or she is being fleeced.

He said that concerted efforts from all stakeholders will stop illegal land barons whom he accused of leaving the residential areas they sell undeveloped.

Garwe also said that the government shall intervene but will not demolish the already built houses but “will chip in to assist in regularisation, specifically in the provision of the required services like roads and water network systems.”