civil servants who already live in government housing, including the Head of the Physical Planning Department and five other senior officials.74 • The MDC-dominant Gwanda town council held a meeting to condemn the allocations, done without their consultation. Deputy Executive Mayor of Gwanda, Petros Mukwena stated; “to make matters worse, the majority of beneficiaries are outsiders or people who once worked in Gwanda but have since been employed outside this town… In fact, it is scandalous”.75 • Undeserving beneficiaries were reported in Beitbridge during February, and there was a call for an inquiry into the rampant corruption. Minister of Home Affairs, Kembo Mohadi: “I am really worried because the intended beneficiaries lost out to some selfish civil servants who allocated themselves houses yet they are staying in spacious government houses in low density.”76 • There was an outcry in early March when 50 houses were allocated in Dete, a small centre about 300km north of Bulawayo; those allocated the (incomplete) houses are not on official housing lists, and are entirely unknown in the area. Local councillors reported that 177 families lost houses in Dete during the demolitions, mainly thatched huts in which they had been living for over twenty years – yet none of these families has been allocated a new house.77 • There was similar anger in Maphisa, a small town around 250km south of Bulawayo. Beneficiaries of the 57 houses allocated here, include the police, army, members of the CIO, ZANU PF members and some youths working at the hospital known to be affiliated to ZANU PF. Other known beneficiaries include the hospital’s District Medical Officer (DMO), ZANU PF district chairman and the acting DMO. The Maphisa rural district council has complained about the manner in which the houses were allocated, as the list was not drawn from the housing waiting list.78 • In June, the Gwanda OGHK houses were involved in another scandal – it was revealed that some are being leased and not occupied by those allocated the houses. This was condemned by officials who state again that the houses were supposed to be for those who had no accommodation and were not intended for resale or rent. The houses are still without doors, windows and sewerage services; rooms rent for around Z$ 800,000 a room. According to council, they are not fit for habitation and nobody can legally occupy them at this stage. 79 • In July, a row erupted over corrupt allocation of houses in Bubi-Umguza. Outrage was expressed by ZANU PF MP Obert Mpofu that the Governor of Matabeleland North Thokozile Mathuthu has allocated the houses to high ranking ZANU PF officials within the district council, and to people who have already benefited under the land resettlement 74 The Chronicle, 3 February; The Standard, 5 February. Ibid. The ZANU PF governor of Mat South has also expressed disapproval of the allocations: she has a long standing vendetta against the local ZANU PF MP Ncube, whose children benefited. 76 The Zimbabwean, 16-22 February. 77 The Chronicle, March 2006, “Residents fume over allocation of houses”. 78 Authors’ interviews, May 2006. 79 The Chronicle, 5 June 2006, “Hlalani Kuhle houses leased”. 75 34