By A Correspondent- Government has announced that it will soon be relocating people in rural areas whose homesteads were built on wetlands to concur with the impending demolition of houses.

The President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration also said it will relocate people on dysfunctional urban settlements that were developed on swamplands.

This was announced by the Environment, Climate Change, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu through the state media.

In an interview with Sunday News, Minister Ndlovu said the Government through Environmental Management Agency (Ema) has completed the initial mapping exercise meant to identify wetlands in towns and cities to pave way for the relocation and subsequent demolition of houses in dysfunctional settlements. Minister Ndlovu said Ema was expected to come up with a comprehensive and scientific map that identifies all wetlands countrywide, an exercise that is expected to be completed in May.

“All houses on wetlands should be removed. We realised that even in rural areas, some of the houses were collapsing following the incessant rains because they were built on wetlands. So the wetlands mapping exercise will not be confined to urban areas but will cover the whole country including rural areas. All people whose homesteads are on wetlands in rural areas will be relocated as well,” he said.

Minister Ndlovu said Ema was working with Zimbabwe National Geo-space Agency and University of Zimbabwe (UZ) to come up with a scientific map that will be uploaded on google maps to guide prospective developers and local authorities on land utilisation.

-Sunday News