Maravi

Demolishing Kalikiliki

Demolishing Kalikiliki
By Editor
Thursday March 01, 2007 [02:00]

IT is sad that in the midst of these downpours, structures in Kalikiliki compound will be demolished in the next three days. We appreciate the irritations of our city council authorities over these illegal structures in Kalikiliki. But we shouldn’t approach this problem of squatter settlements as a social evil that has to be eradicated. We say this because such a confusing and knee-jerk reaction and attitude towards squatter settlements will not help the more basic question of adequate housing for all.

For the millions of our poor people, urban areas will continue to be a means for improving their quality of living and environment, besides getting better jobs and income.

This will always be in contrast to deteriorating conditions in our rural areas that have generated a considerable flow of migrants to cities. Of course urban migrants’ priorities change over time, depending on the various conditions that they find themselves in. But one of the first dilemmas they face and which persists for a long period, is the question of an adequate house. With little resources, financial or otherwise, skills or access to them, the drastic option of illegally occupying a vacant piece of land to build a rudimentary shelter is the only one available to them. The problem is further compounded by the apathy and even anti-apathy of various government agencies which view the development of squatter settlements as an evil, a crime.

Considering the magnitude and scale of the housing deficit and lack of concerted action or inadequate response from government agencies, there is no doubt of the positive role that squatter housing plays in housing the millions of poor families. The main question of land ownership and over-utilised infrastructure and services will, however, always remain unanswered.

This problem did not start today. The UNIP government tried to deal with it. Michael Sata as Chiluba’s local government and housing minister tried to deal with it. We can say successive generations of governments have tried to deal with it and adopted a number of approaches in trying to find a solution to the dilemma of squatting.

The UNIP government adopted the popular approaches of settlement upgrading and sites-and-services.
There is no doubt squatter settlements in our urban areas are an inevitable phenomenon. As long as urban areas offer economies of scale and agglomeration economies, our large cities will always continue to grow, attracting migrants from rural and smaller urban areas, leading to more squatting.

There is no quick-fix solution, universal or otherwise, that can solve all the problems of squatting in all parts of our country.
Considering the inevitability of squatting, the need is primarily for a change in attitude towards squatting, squatters and squatter settlements. What is needed is an enabling approach, where instead of an attitude of confrontation, we strive to create an enabling environment, under which people, using and generating their own resources, could find unique solutions for their housing and shelter problems.

The key question to be asked here is: Why do our people squat? Someone can say it is because there is an illegal sale of plots. Yes, this may be true but there is much more to it than this simple corruption. There is the question of people not having adequate financial resources and other collateral required to legally settle themselves. There is also the question of the high cost of land and other housing services, apathy and anti-pathy on the part of the government to assist them, high acceptable building standards and rules and regulations; lop-sided planning. These reasons leave no option for the low-income household but to squat on a vacant piece of land.

It should be our task to give millions of Zambians, especially the poor, an essential piece of dignity in their lives - the dignity that comes from having a solid roof over one’s head, running water and other services in an established community.

The state should provide sites with the basics of electricity, water and sewerage and a foundation. But the responsibility for putting a roof over people’s heads should depend on mobilising the sweat equity of our people themselves. In saying this, we are not advocating the dishing out of free houses. That can’t work; it hasn’t worked anywhere even under the best socialist programmes. We can’t build an economy or a society purely on the basis of entitlement. People have to make a contribution. They have to have a sense of ownership which they don’t get from being given blocks of rented accommodation which they don’t own, don’t have a stake in and haven’t helped design and build.

We do appreciate the problems and challenges the leadership of our city councils are facing over this problem of squatting. We also understand their impotence given the magnitude of this problem countrywide. But there is need to deal with this problem in a more humane and compassionate way. Demolishing illegal structures and leaving people without shelter in the middle of a season of heavy rains may appear to be too cruel. Unless we have somewhere to take them, let us wait until the end of the rainy season.

As we have already stated, this is a very big and complex problem for which neither ourselves nor anyone else has magic solutions. It therefore requires a lot of level-headedness, calm minds and compassion.

There is no need for panic solutions because this problem didn’t start yesterday nor is it going to end tomorrow - regardless of how many structures we demolish in a punitive manner in the middle of rainstorms. We are not criticising anybody, we are merely raising concerns; we are looking at the human factor and the options available for our affected people who happen to be invariably poor and voiceless. This is not a simple problem, it is a complex one requiring a lot of thought and meditation.

Labels: EDITORIAL, HOUSES, SYLVIA MASEBO

posted by MrK @ 5:28 AM