By-Zanu PF Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga said the Nelson Chamisa-led opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), was responsible for the four-decade-long neglect of the Mbare flats.

Chiwenga said the Chamisa-led Harare city council rejected refurbishing the dilapidated flats.

 In 2018, Chiwenga promised to replace the old flats with modern structures but now claims that the opposition-led Harare City Council thwarted the central government’s efforts.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Mbare, Chiwenga said that after the elections, the ZANU PF government would pass laws to prevent opposition party-led councils from obstructing development projects, NewsDay reported. The former army boss said:

I came here in 2018 and talked about Matapi and Shawasha flats saying that places like these together with Sakubva (Mutare), Mkoba (Gweru) and Makokoba (Bulawayo), need to be fixed.

Plans came in for construction and Citizens Coalition of Change (CCC) denied the offer saying that ‘if you build those structures, you will take away our votes’.

It is now a thing of the past. We gave them latitude, and we will evoke the law that when we want to construct better housing for our people, we will do it whether the council likes it or not.

There are no questions about it. Laws are made by human beings and it is the human beings who revoke laws which are not amenable to our people. I urge you to vote for councils that belong to ZANU PF and we shall make Zimbabwe great.

I have come here with Local Government minister (July Moyo) so that we can uplift Mbare Musika to make it a world-class market like what other countries are doing, together with Mupedzanhamo Market.

You have been voting councils from MDC and CCC. There hasn’t been any development which has been taking place. They have destroyed urban areas. There is litter everywhere to an extent that if you need fresh air these days, you will go to the rural areas.

The Mbare flats, which were built during the colonial era, currently house thousands of families who use communal toilets and water points. In 2011, a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to renovate the Matapi Flats in Mbare was unsuccessful due to the interference of the ZANU PF-affiliated Chipangano terror group.