Mutasa Rural District Council has torn down homes in Hauna, in the Honde Valley, in an operation aimed at buildings put up on land not set aside for housing. Council workers carried out the demolitions accompanied by Zimbabwe Republic Police officers from Ruda Police Station and Mutasa District Command Station, according to 263Chat. Affected homeowners are now tallying what they have lost.
263Chat reports that the council had met some of the residents beforehand, and that some received eviction notices. Others did not. Several of those whose houses came down were still building and say they learned of the exercise only on the day it happened.
Why it matters
The demolitions put a rural district at the centre of a national argument about how far the state should go in clearing illegal settlements, and who should bear the cost when buyers say they acted in good faith. For the families involved, the loss is not abstract: 263Chat describes homes that represented years of saving and work. The case also raises questions about the people who sold the stands and whether anyone in authority was involved in allowing the settlements to grow.
Residents describe losses and a disputed sale
One woman, who gave her name only as Mai Maereka, told 263Chat that she and others had no advance warning. She said neighbours who had received eviction orders were in a different position from her household, which was told on the Wednesday that the demolition was under way. She described the experience as disheartening.
Another resident, who asked not to be named, said he bought his stand in 2021 from a local villager. According to his account, the seller showed him an offer letter from Mutasa Rural District Council and assured him the land had been properly pegged. He told 263Chat he realised he had been cheated only when residents met council officials. He said he managed to remove some belongings before the grader arrived.
A video circulating online shows an elderly woman collapsing during the demolitions, and 263Chat reports that it drew sympathy from many viewers.
263Chat tried to reach Mutasa RDC chief executive officer George Bandure for comment and received no reply to questions about the operation.
Operation Cheneso reaches rural districts
The council has been posting warnings on social media about illegal stands and undesignated vending sites, 263Chat reports, as Operation Cheneso intensifies. The operation was launched by the Ministry of Local Government, led by Daniel Garwe. It was first widely understood as a response to urban decay in towns and municipalities, and has now been extended into rural areas.
That expansion has drawn criticism. Some have questioned the central government's approach and argued that the situation of rural residents is not being weighed properly, particularly where people say they paid for stands in good faith and put their savings into building.
The Zimbabwe National Organisation of Associations and Residents Trust (ZNOART) has called for those who sell illegal stands to face consequences. Its chairperson, Shalvar Chikomba, said councils must enforce planning rules, but that doing so has to be matched by fairness and accountability for the people affected.
Chikomba said authorities should establish the full facts before bringing houses down: who sold the land, who took the money, whether officials were involved, and how the settlements were permitted to develop in the first place. ZNOART also urged Mutasa RDC and other councils to consider regularising settlements where the law allows, especially where compliance with planning rules can be achieved without harming public land, schools, clinics, recreational facilities and other amenities.
The organisation said it sympathised with affected families but did not support lawbreaking, and that protecting public land and enforcing lawful planning requirements must still go ahead.
What to watch: whether Mutasa RDC responds to questions about the notices and the offer letters residents say they were shown, and whether any inquiry follows into how the stands were sold.
