Photos 40 and 41: good quality housing was demolished in Victoria Falls in 2005 – the town lost
64% of its accommodation.
Photo 42: in 2010, many people in Victoria Falls now live in shacks unable to rebuild decent
homes after years of financial battering – as well as further demolitions, including on Christmas
Eve in 2009, ordered by the MDC T led city council!
Update 2010
Housing in Victoria Falls remains a crisis. However, it is now the MDC T led city council that is
policing the informal housing sector. Many residents have owned plots in the high‐density
suburb here since before OM, and since then, have failed to rebuild the structures knocked
down. Instead they have been living in makeshift shacks, while they try to save the money to
build structures that will comply with minimum standards. However, at six monthly intervals,
the city council comes in and knocks the shacks down. The last time this happened was on
Christmas Eve in 2009! As each knockdown reduces the residents to greater poverty, this
cycle seems really senseless and counterproductive. There is a need for urban councils
countrywide to adjust their housing by‐laws to take the Zimbabwean reality into account,
allowing for a more relaxed approach to appropriate structures.
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