More than 20 houses that were illegally built in a cantonment area next to the National Heroes Acre have been demolished by the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) with the endorsement of Harare City Council, almost a year after the house owners ignored a court order to move.

The houses were built on fake stands created and parcelled out by land barons in the area opposite the National Sports Stadium on land assigned to the army.
More than 100 stands were fraudulently created in the open space, with the affected house owners yesterday claiming to have bought the stands from a cooperative they declined to name.

But they were unable to produce receipts or other documents showing proof of purchase, even fraudulent purchase.

A claim that the cooperative was in direct contact with Harare City Council was immediately shot down by the local authority which said it fully supported the demolitions as the houses had been built illegally.

Council said the house owners ignored a court order and repeated warnings for them to vacate.
“Council has a number of court orders to remove illegal structures.

We would like to advise all people who were served with eviction orders to voluntarily move off the illegally occupied pieces of land,” said City of Harare spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme.

A visit to the site yesterday showed that among the destroyed structures, were occupied houses and incomplete buildings at various stages of construction.
There was also a crèche which was operational.

ZNA spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Alphios Makotore yesterday confirmed that the land was a military zone and warned land barons and corrupt council officials against illegally creating and selling stands.

“Some corrupt land barons were parcelling out stands and selling them to desperate home-seekers. If offered a stand near the Heroes Acre, someone should ordinarily be circumspect,” he said.-Chronicle