12 Jul 2007: ISS Today: Angola And Zimbabwe Share Urban Development Models

12 July 2007: Angola And Zimbabwe Share Urban Development Models

 

(Picture: Luanda)

We have come to learn of Zimbabwe’s experiences in housing development.  We are really impressed with what we saw.  We will try to influence our government to copy Zimbabwe models (Cde Corla Ribeiro De Sousa, Deputy Minister of Urban Development and Environment, Angola).

 

There is a fascinating similarity between Zimbabwe’s mass urban evictions and Angola’s slum clearance operations.  In 2005 the Zimbabwe government launched Operation Murambatsvina (Restore Order) which aimed at clearing illegal city dwellers and destroying unauthorised housing structures.  This operation left at least 700,000 people homeless -- an estimated 2.4 million, if dependants are considered.  Similarly, in Angola the government has been carrying out massive forceful evictions of the poor in the slums of the urban areas.  Since 2003 an estimated 20,000 people in Angola have been forcibly removed from their homes to facilitate development and beautification of Luanda.

 

Shortly after Operation Murambatsvina, Zimbabwe launched Operation Garikai (Live Well), which had an ambitious plan to build 20,000 units in 40 days.  These structures, of course, did not materialise.  Angola’s slum evictions were initiated to make way for project “Nova Vida” (New Life).  Nova Vida is today a model of engineering and construction excellence and the government of Angola will not tolerate anything standing in the way of this “new life” project.

 

It is now interesting to hear that two years after Operation Murambatsvina and less than 6 months after the last slum evictions in Luanda, Angola and Zimbabwe are discussing urban housing models.  Angola’s Deputy Minister of Urban Development and Environment, Cde Corla Ribeiro De Sousa was in Zimbabwe in mid-June on an exchange and familiarisation tour of the country’s urban development programmes.  The visiting minister expressed satisfaction with Zimbabwe’s housing standards and stated that Angola was willing to copy Zimbabwe’s housing models. 

 

It is difficult to imagine what exactly the Angolan minister meant by learning from Zimbabwe’s urban development models.  Following the mass evictions, millions of Zimbabweans were herded on to farms and housed in camps with inadequate water and sanitation facilities.  The promised houses under Operation Garikai failed to appear and evicted families either moved to the rural areas or back into the city to look for accommodation.  This resulted in overcrowding, and the expense of property rentals increased as the demand for any kind of housing shot up.  Unfortunately the clean-up operation ultimately resulted in people living in more squalid and unsuitable conditions than before.  It is incomprehensible that Angola should express a wish to copy this “model”.  Decent and admirable housing developments in Zimbabwe are not government owned but represent only the small affluent projects of the elite in Zimbabwe.  One would perhaps wonder if the Angolan minister actually was referring to these elite projects as models for its increasingly luxurious building projects in Luanda. 

 

Rugare Ncube, African Security Analysis Programme, ISS Tshwane (Pretoria)