Harare home demolitions have left families homeless and intensified a dispute over whether residents were wrongfully evicted from land allocated through municipal processes.
In St Martins Extension, Methro Masunga, a single mother of three, said bulldozers and municipal police arrived at about 5am on August 14 and began destroying homes. She had spent years saving from part-time cleaning work to buy a residential stand and build a house.
“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,” she said.
Masunga began paying for her stand in 2015 and said she received an allocation in 2019. The arrangement was formalised through the city council the following year, when residents began receiving official documents.
She is among residents who say they paid for stands through council-linked schemes before investing their savings in construction. Harare authorities maintain that the demolitions are aimed at structures built without the required approvals, or on land not designated for housing.
More than 5,000 houses are listed for demolition under 37 outstanding High Court orders, according to city council records. The figure covers properties targeted under the wider programme rather than homes already destroyed, while a separate council task force has inspected 22,255 sites for structures on prohibited or unauthorised land.
Legal dispute over Harare demolitions
Residents have also questioned whether the council complied with an earlier court order. On October 29 2025, Justice Happias Zhou issued a consent order setting aside demolition notices issued to named applicants in St Martins Extension.
The order 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 approval from the council, although it did not automatically cover every property in the area.
It has not been established whether Masunga, or another affected resident, Memory Chengeta, was among those protected by the order.
Chengeta said residents were confused by the operation because of the previous ruling. “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,” she said.
Harare has denied demolishing properties protected by the order. Council spokesperson Stanley Gama said the municipality was targeting structures whose owners had repeatedly been warned against building illegally.
Mayor Jacob Mafume said residents with approved building plans should produce them during council inspections. The city’s principal housing director, Edgar Dzehonye, said residents had been warned against building in the area because it had not been adequately serviced.
The central issue is whether allocation letters and agreements of sale also amounted to planning and building approval. An allocation to occupy a stand does not necessarily authorise construction, leaving the status of individual documents, the approved layout and building permits crucial to the dispute.
Zimbabwe’s Constitution prohibits the eviction of people from their homes, or the demolition of their homes, without a court order made after all relevant circumstances have been considered. National policy also calls for alternative accommodation to be prepared before relocations and demolitions, but residents say none was offered.
Some families have returned to renting, while others have stayed in St Martins and built makeshift shelters among the ruins. Chengeta, described as a former street food vendor, and Masunga are among those who have remained.
Joachim Nhete said he used his retirement package to buy land and build a house, spending more than $10,000. “Unlike some who had home insurance, I didn’t have one,” he said. “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.”
David Jenje, chairman of the St Martins Residents Association and the St Martins Housing Happiness Pay Scheme, said many residents had paid deposits of $5,000 as early as 2018. He said allocations were made in 2019 and allocation letters and agreements of sale were signed in February 2020.
“These demolitions were illegal,” Jenje said.
Precious Shumba, director of the Harare Residents’ Trust, said the demolitions were particularly troubling because of the court order. The organisation has called for greater accountability over the city’s land administration and for the findings of commissions of inquiry into Harare’s affairs and governance crisis to be implemented.
ZimRights said the demolitions raised questions about the rule of law. Harare South MP Trymore Kanopula called for further action to stop until the land allocations had been audited and investigated.
The matter was referred by Parliament’s speaker to the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works. Minister Daniel Garwe said the government had not carried out the demolitions and could not interfere with court processes, but acknowledged that Harare City Council had about 5,000 demolition orders.
