10/06/2026
The painful question many Zimbabweans are asking is this:
Why is Zimbabwe always demolishing houses?
You travel across Africa and the world and find governments building houses, regularising settlements, upgrading infrastructure and issuing title deeds.
In Zimbabwe, thousands wake up wondering whether their home will still be standing next month.
We are told:
"Verify first."
Fair enough.
But explain this.
A person buys a stand in 2008.
Builds a cottage in 2010.
Builds a house in 2012.
Gets electricity.
Gets water connections nearby.
Pays rates.
Votes from that address.
Children attend nearby schools.
Politicians campaign there.
Churches are built.
Shops are built.
Entire suburbs emerge.
Then after 15 years someone suddenly discovers:
"Sorry, this is a wetland."
Zimbabwe must be the only country where a wetland remains invisible until the last brick is laid.
The bigger question is not about the homeowner.
The bigger question is:
Where are the land barons?
Where are the people who sold the land?
Where are the officials who approved layouts?
Where are the surveyors?
Where are the councillors?
Where are the planners?
Where are the politicians who attended rallies there?
Why is it always the widow, the pensioner, the teacher, the vendor and the civil servant standing in front of a bulldozer?
The people at the beginning of the chain become millionaires.
The people at the end of the chain become homeless.
Strange justice.
In a functioning system, the first person to face serious consequences should be the fraudulent seller.
Their assets should be seized.
Their bank accounts frozen.
Their names published.
Their victims compensated.
Instead, the house disappears while the land baron mysteriously remains available to sell another stand somewhere else.
Zimbabweans are not stupid.
People understand that wetlands must be protected.
People understand that planning laws matter.
People understand that infrastructure is necessary.
What many struggle to understand is how illegal settlements can survive for years, collect rates, receive services, host political campaigns and grow into entire communities before anyone notices a problem.
By the time the bulldozer arrives, everybody claims innocence.
The council didn't know.
The ministry didn't know.
The developer didn't know.
The politician didn't know.
Only the homeowner is expected to know.
Amazing.
Perhaps the greatest Zimbabwean natural resource is not gold, platinum or lithium.
It is accountability.
Because everyone is looking for it, but nobody can find it.
And as long as those who create these disasters are protected while ordinary citizens pay the price, people will continue to believe that when powerful people fail to agree, the weakest person at the end of the chain becomes the sacrificial lamb.
That is why the demolitions hurt so much.
They are not just destroying houses.
They are destroying trust.
