Harare gives informal settlement owners 14 days to regularise or face demolition
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Harare's acting town clerk has set a 9 November deadline for occupiers of targeted informal settlements to settle penalties, pay the land's intrinsic value and submit building plans, warning that enforcement will follow without further notice.
The City of Harare has given residents and housing associations in targeted informal settlements 14 days to comply with its regularisation requirements or risk having their structures demolished, with a deadline of 9 November 2026.
The public notice was issued by Acting Town Clerk Warren Sean Chiwawa on Monday, 26 October. It affects people and organisations occupying council, state or private land before 23 September 2023 who were recommended for regularisation and issued partial certificates of compliance, as well as housing associations and beneficiaries who were previously spared demolition.
Affected property owners must visit their district offices to settle outstanding obligations, including penalties for illegal land occupation and construction, payment of the land's full intrinsic value and submission of architectural plans for approval. They must also pay penalties relating to unauthorised roads, water and sewer infrastructure and illegal connections to existing services, and complete any outstanding infrastructure work.
Chiwawa said compliant property owners would have rates accounts opened in their names, while those who fail to meet the requirements within the 14-day period risk enforcement action. "Council will act firmly, decisively and without fear or favour. No person, regardless of status, position, political affiliation or influence, is exempt from the application of the law," the notice stated, adding that enforcement would proceed after the deadline without further notification.
Some properties will not qualify for regularisation even if their owners attempt to comply. These include structures built on ecologically sensitive land and land reserved for public facilities where regularisation is not permitted. Construction currently taking place without council approval will also be stopped, with the offending structures facing demolition.
Owners whose properties are demolished will be responsible for the costs of demolition, rubble removal, site clearance and restoration. The council directed residents seeking clarification to its Director of Urban Planning Services at Cleveland House or the Director of Housing and Community Services at the Housing Department's head office in Mbare.