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Byo City Expansion Project: Boon or Bane for Youths?

Bulawayo is faced with a ballooning housing backlog which stands at more than 160 000. Graphic by The Citizen Bulletin


BY MBONISI GUMBO | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | FEB 5, 2020

Thousands of Bulawayo youths languish in poverty, rent cubby holes, and squat in informal settlements. The city’s expansion project aimed at addressing some of these challenges is just a pipe dream, writes Mbonisi Gumbo.


BULAWAYO (The Citizen Bulletin) In the past decade or two, the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has been struggling to meet the rising demand for housing for its residents. The city fathers have mooted an ambitious expansion project that they hope to leverage to address the housing challenges.
 
Is this move a boon or bane for young people who constitute the larger segment of the city's population?
 
Thousands of young people from the city are unemployed, languish in poverty, and rent cubby holes or, in worst scenarios, squat in informal settlements — most of which are not fit for human habitation.
 
In 2019 Mayor Solomon Mguni told the local press that there are no less than 160 000 people on the BCC's housing waiting list. Of this list, it is not clear how many desperate home seekers are young people.

However, what remains clear is that there is an urgent need for the local authority to deal with the ballooning housing backlog. This requires the city fathers to craft a sustainable housing scheme that matches young people's prevailing financial and related economic challenges.
 
Currently, the local authority's housing program for residential stands is hinged on a presale scheme, a self-financing arrangement. The scheme targets those that have readily available finances to pay a deposit of 35% and 15% Value Added Tax of the total purchase, with the rest payable over a period of 18 months.
 
The local authority argues that it is financially incapacitated to pre-finance housing projects; thus, adopting a presale scheme to enable it to service stands for those who have acquired them via the waiting list.

This model directly marginalizes and excludes many unemployed young people from accessing residential stands due to their lack of financial capacity to pay the required fee upfront.

Put differently, this scheme's continued implementation means that young people are systematically excluded from accessing housing even if the city is to be expanded. The acquisition process structurally violates young people's Constitutional rights to housing.
 
According to advert Number 4804, published on the 25th of November 2016 and issued by the Town Clerk's office, the first preference for the housing stands available should be given to applicants with the oldest waiting list form all the cash required to make a purchase.

Concerning the aforementioned conditions of sale, it is clear that a larger section of young people is not eligible to buy residential stands.  

Apart from the above, it is apparent that BCC is not keen to address the housing problem for young people as evidenced by its constant anti-youth policies in decision-making.

The city's 2019 to 2034 masterplan, for instance, lacks a strategic framework that addresses the housing problem for young people — and the expansion of the city on which the plan is hinged exacerbates their existing challenges.

It is thus imperative for city bureaucrats to revise the overly subscribed pre-financing scheme and tailor it to allow young people to access residential stands despite their financial status. BCC should have youth schemes in their housing departments to plug this gap.
 
With the unemployment rate standing at above 90 percent and mostly affecting the youths, it would be complicated for any young person to acquire a housing stand as most youths live from hand to mouth and struggle to save for any meaningful investment.

Bulawayo used to be the country's industrial hub with a functional industry employing thousands of youths. But since the turn of the millennium, things have gone worse for youths, especially insofar as employment is concerned.

These problems have not been resolved to date, and the young generation is bearing the brunt.

This status quo will make it difficult for BCC's expansion initiative to cater to young people's needs. The aforementioned challenges are compounded by the country's banking sector's loan requirements, which are out of our reach for most youths who don't even have assets that can be used as surety or collateral.  

Apart from the above issues, BCC itself is not keen on empowering local youths, with most of its workforce being people above 40 years of age or those nearing retirement.

Recently, the local authority awarded three companies a tender to develop about 2 400 stands in Emganwini. The stands range between the price of US$7 000 and US$30 000. As a result, those with disposable income continue to manipulate the system using corrupt means to buy more and more land at the expense of the poor, youthful majority.
 
In sum, unless BCC creates a youth-friendly housing policy that caters for the poor, the expansion project will remain a bane for youths. To troubleshoot some of the current challenges that bedevil youths, at least in part, the local authority needs to position itself as a safe place for business, find a way to attract investors, and power up a flourishing industry that employs young people.


Mbonisi Gumbo is a youth activist and human rights defender based in Bulawayo. He writes in his personal capacity.

He is contactable via email on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.