Mbare rot: Politics scared away Bill and Melinda Gates

BY MOSES MATENGA 

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) recently toured the populous Mbare suburb, a necessary tour but insignificant without results.

Mbare stinks, its rot attracts bed bugs and is home to waterborne diseases fuelled by raw sewage that flow with ease across all the 55 block of flats.

During the visit, the ZHRC did nothing to aid the residents in Mbare with their presence but just added to many “officials” who have witnessed the rot in Mbare, jump into their SUVs and head to their air-conditioned offices or homes to refresh and disinfect.

Statistics show over 15 people in some cases share a dilapidated room with families living inhumanely in the overpopulated structure.

The Mbare situation is a shame and needs all, from central government to local government and stakeholders, to bury our heads in collective shame.

We were all there when the Zanu PF-linked militant group, Chipangano wreaked havoc and blocked the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation from rehabilitating the flats with a US$5million fund unlocked by then Harare Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda.

The Foundation, run by billionaire couple, Bill and Melinda, is a philanthropic organization that works to reduce disease and poverty and build a more equal world, according to its website.

Jessie Majome, the current ZHRC chairperson was deputy Justice Minister and also served the Women Affairs portfolio in the same capacity when that happened.

She was one of the many in government who did little if not nothing to challenge the late former President Robert Mugabe to rein in the fierce militant Zanu PF linked group led by Jim Kunaka.

Masunda remain livid over the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation issue lamenting how politics blocked a life-changing project that could have easily changed the face of Mbare.

“Can you imagine where Mbare would be today,” Masunda told Business Times this week.

“Those 55 blocks of flats have been there since time immemorial. We wanted to decongest because the people there stayed in unacceptably poor and squalid conditions,” Masunda said.

He said the council working together with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had identified a temporary piece of land, kwaTsiga, to shelter the residents while work was being done on the dilapidated block of flats.

But Zanu PF’s Chipangano said no

“The conditions are unhygienic and squalid. You recall how Chipangano led by Kunaka fuelled by (the late) Tendai Savanhu and (the late former Zanu PF provincial chairman) Amos Midzi blocked the project? We moved it to Dzivarasekwa where we built 486 houses,” Masunda said.

“The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was pleased with the way we accounted the US$5 million. They made available US$20 million that came as I was completing my stint as Mayor,” Masunda said.

He said officials who took over from Town House after his stint took their eyes off the ball and the money was never disbursed.

The Mbare curse

Families are squeezed in single rooms built decades ago for lone migrant workers. In some cases, as many as 15 people share one room.

Curtains divide the space where parents sleep and their children and relatives on the other side in most cases.

Secrecy escapes, intimacy vacates and this dehumanise individuals forcing children into drugs and substance abuse, another menace in Mbare.

Raw sewer flows uninterrupted and has become a new normal to Mbare residents who remain exposed to waterborne diseases.

Majome could not have described the situation any better.

“Standing there is not for people of nervous disposition,” she said adding that no technology could fully capture the stench.

Council ignores High Court ruling

 In 2024, Justice Nyaradzo Munangati-Manongwa ordered the City of Harare and the national government to refurbish the Matapi, Matererini, Mbare, Nenyere, and Shawasha hostels, compelling them to restore essential services and make the buildings fit for human habitation.

What has been done now? Nothing. Who should act?

Council, central government and stakeholders should no longer treat the Mbare crisis as business as usual. It is a matter of urgency and deserves that treatment.

Matapi flats were designed to house about 3 000 people mainly singles who were working in the then booming industries in and around the area including Graniteside, Southerton,         Willowvale among many others.

Today, an estimated 12 800 residents live there, more than four times the intended capacity.

How the rogue elements denied Mbare a new face?

Mupedzanhamo used to be a hive of activity back in the day. It was a place where money, millions of dollars, circulated in a day with traders trading in second hand clothing.

However, in 2015 Zanu PF youths have been at the centre of fights in the area where they recently chased away United Arab Emirates (UAE) investors who wanted to pour in more than $45 million towards construction of a state-of-the-art Shawasha business complex close to Mupedzanhamo market.

The activists threatened to manhandle the investors, council officials.

Had it taken off, the project would have seen more than 5 000 market stalls erected for small businesses together with banks, retail outlets and recreational facilities.

Jobs would have been created but currently, the area remains invaded by illegal traders who are also starving the city of potential revenue as they do not pay anything to the metropolis.

Council was also forced to shelf another mega project that could have seen Mbare bus terminus getting a facelift by fitting it with modern electronic systems to monitor movement of buses from all over the country and region.

The deal was estimated to cost $400 000.

Council was also forced to withdraw another $35 million project that would have led to the construction of cold rooms at Mbare Market to store perishable goods, especially vegetables.

In 2016, the city of Harare resolved to demolish some of its ageing Mbare hostels to pave way for the construction of 10 000 modern housing units.

It did not go beyond a resolution, and 10 years later, we wait.

The project was meant to be spearheaded by a Chinese company, China-Huashi, with the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) providing mortgage finance for the beneficiaries.

It was supposed to see the construction of 500 three-bedroomed houses, 4 500 two-bedroomed units, 4 500 one-bedroom units and 500 bedsitters, all with ablution facilities.

Why is Mbare begging for a facelift?

Mbare is the oldest high-density residential area in Zimbabwe and plays host to thousands of inhabitants who play various roles in the suburb’s everyday life. It is a business hub with places like Siyaso, Mupedzanhamo market, Mbare Musika and a number of flats are known for their visible dilapidated state, overcrowded houses and poor sanitation which greets visitors on the corner of every street.

Masunda feels politics killed a huge potential to modernise Mbare and thinks civic duties ought not to have been politicised.

“At all material time when I was in office, I said I am going to drive a civic agenda not a political agenda. Town House issues are civic driven and not political driven,” he said.