By Correspondent
The government has announced that the allocation of 23 stands to MPs on the Monavale wetland will be reversed.
The decision followed incessant pressure from residents, who this week invited the Secretary for Presidential Affairs and Devolution, Tafadzwa Muguti, to tour the area.
Speaking at the site, Muguti said MPs would indeed get stands, but not in a wetland.
He added that Monavale was gazetted by the Government and thus Harare Council, accused of leading the allocation, has no power to offer stands there.
“A couple of years back, Cabinet announced that it would gazette all wetlands.
“What it means is that once a place is gazetted, it’s a no-go area; it becomes an area which doesn’t even belong to the City of Harare.
“This whole area is gazetted,” he said.
Muguti said the allocation of stands on Monavale wasn’t even cleared by Parliament.
“There is an ongoing process where MPs will be allocated stands, but in this particular instance, this wasn’t cleared either by Parliament or by Government.
“It was deliberately done by a group of MPs working with City of Harare and some characters in government.
“However, this isn’t how we do things. We will be allocating stands but not like this.
“This is a no-go area,” he said.
Muguti said the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has already been ordered to halt any operations in the area.
Monavale Wetland in Harare is one of only seven Wetlands of International Importance in Zimbabwe.
Residents have even pushed that it be taken under ZimParks.
Monavale is one of Zimbabwe’s seven Ramsar Sites, a list of wetlands of international importance.
The Ramsar Convention, adopted by 172 countries worldwide, is an intergovernmental Treaty.
It is named after the Iranian city of Ramsar where the convention was adopted in 1975.
It provides the framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.
Monavale Vlei also forms part of the Manyame catchment basin, the main water supply for Harare and surrounding towns.
The Conservation Society of Monavale (COSMO) has managed and restored the wetland since 2005.
