Demolitions in Harare leave families homeless after years of building

In the St Martins Extension area of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, 28-year-old Methro Masunga was jolted awake at around 5am by the sound of bulldozers and shouting municipal police officers. It was Friday, August 14. Outside, earth-moving vehicles were preparing to demolish homes.

At first, Masunga thought the machinery had arrived for roadworks. Then she realised her home was among those marked for destruction. She said: “I thought they were here for some other business, probably land development or road grading; alas, they had been sent to destroy our homes. We tried to understand, but no one would hear us.”

A single mother of three, Masunga had spent years saving to own a home. She worked part-time cleaning other people’s houses, doing laundry and washing dishes, putting aside what she could. She paid the deposit for her stand and started monthly contributions.

Masunga began paying for her stand in 2015 and received an allocation in 2019. She says the arrangement was formalised through the city council in 2020, when residents began receiving official documents.

Her experience reflects a wider dispute over land allocations in Harare. Residents say they bought stands through council-linked processes and invested their savings in building homes. The municipality says it is enforcing planning regulations against structures built without the necessary approvals or on land not designated for housing. The full number of people displaced by demolitions across Harare in 2026 has not been independently established. However, city council records seen by Al Jazeera list more than 5,000 houses facing demolition under 37 outstanding High Court orders. A council task force has separately inspected 22,255 sites to identify structures on prohibited or unauthorised land.

Memory Chengeta, whose house in St Martins was also demolished, said residents were bewildered by the operation because of an earlier court order. She said: “There was a court order for them to stop demolitions. The municipal authorities came with no court order that overturned the previous judgement, but went ahead to destroy the properties.” A former street food vendor, Chengeta had saved to build a more stable life. She is now homeless. Some affected residents have returned to renting, while others, including Chengeta and Masunga, have remained in St Martins, putting up makeshift shelters rather than leaving the area.

Joachim Nhete also lost his home after using his retirement package to buy land and build a house. He estimates his investment at more than $10,000.

On October 29, 2025, Justice Happias Zhou issued a consent order in case HCH5444/25, setting aside demolition notices issued to named applicants in St Martins Extension. It barred the City of Harare from evicting those applicants or demolishing their homes without a valid court order. It also prohibited further development without written council approval.

The order did not automatically protect every property in St Martins. The available information does not establish whether Masunga, Chengeta or their specific properties were among those covered.

The council has maintained that it did not demolish properties protected by the order. Its spokesperson, Stanley Gama, told local media that the municipality was targeting structures whose owners had repeatedly been warned against building illegally. Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume told NewsDay on August 15 that residents with approved building plans should produce them during council inspections. Harare’s principal housing director, Edgar Dzehonye, later said residents had been warned against building in the area because it had not been adequately serviced.

These explanations raise a separate question: whether residents who received council allocation letters and agreements of sale also had valid planning and building approvals. An allocation to occupy a stand does not necessarily establish that a house was authorised for construction. The status of the residents’ documents, the approved layout, and individual building permits are therefore central to determining whether the demolitions were justified.

Precious Shumba, director of the Harare Residents’ Trust, said the demolitions were particularly troubling because of the court order protecting residents allocated stands by the municipality. Zimbabwe’s Constitution, under Section 74, prohibits the eviction of people from their homes or the demolition of their homes without a court order made after considering all relevant circumstances. The National Human Settlements Policy also calls for alternative accommodation to be prepared before relocations and demolitions. Residents say they were not offered alternative housing.

The controversy reflects long-standing problems in Harare’s land administration. A 2019 commission of inquiry chaired by Justice Tendai Uchena identified unauthorised land sales, weak administration and poor record-keeping by local authorities. It found that land barons had sold state land without authority, sometimes allegedly working alongside council officials. Shumba said the Harare Residents’ Trust wrote to the president on July 22, 2026, calling for the publication of the report of the commission of inquiry into the financial affairs of the city of Harare. The organisation also wants the findings of the Justice Maphios Cheda commission of inquiry into the city’s governance crisis implemented.

David Jenje, chairman of the St Martins Residents Association and the St Martins Housing Happiness Pay Scheme, said residents had paid for their stands years before receiving allocation letters. He said: “Most of the members had paid deposits of $5,000 as far back as 2018. Allocations were made in July 2019 after completion of payment of intrinsic land value. All the allocation letters and agreements of sale were signed in February 2020. These demolitions were illegal.”

ZimRights, a human rights organisation, said the demolitions raised questions about the rule of law and accountability. Harare South MP Trymore Kanopula called for a halt to further demolitions until the land allocations had been audited and investigated. Parliament’s speaker referred the matter to the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works for action. Minister Daniel Garwe said the government did not carry out demolitions and could not interfere with court processes. He acknowledged that the Harare City Council had approximately 5,000 demolition orders and said the government had sometimes tried to delay demolitions while seeking solutions. For Nhete, however, official interventions offer little comfort. His house is gone, and he says he has no insurance to recover his investment. He said: “Unlike some who had home insurance, I didn’t have one. I cannot recover the loss and pain. My hope is in the courts of law that Harare City Council must be held accountable and pay us back.”