HARARE, Jul 21, 2005 (Xinhua via COMTEX)
-- The Zimbabwean government is to close camps where families affected
by a recent mass demolition campaign had been settled by the end of the
week, and relocation has already started, a minister said Thursday.
Local Government, Public Works and Urban
Development Minister Ignatious Chombo said on Thursday the government had
started relocating families from Caledonia farm transit camp to the suburb
of Hatcliffe where 3,100 surveyed housing stands with sewer and water reticulation
pipes had been prepared.
The same exercise was being done in Bulawayo and Mutare, he added.
The government has set aside three trillion dollars (about 300 million US dollars) for the reconstruction after the controversial demolition campaign, which saw local authorities and the police demolishing illegal accommodation and business structures in the country's urban areas. The move has incurred outcries from western countries, and the African Union and United Nations both sent envoy to investigate.
Chombo said the government would allow families being relocated to Hatcliffe to put up outbuilding structures for a year while they constructed main houses.
The government would provide roofing asbestos and also construct two roomed core houses, Chombo said, adding the government planned to construct 300,000 houses by end of the year.
He said all those affected by the clean-up campaign had been allocated stands and urged anyone left out to apply for stands through local authorities.
The minister said street kids would be relocated to rehabilitation centers.