A RESEARCH REPORT PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT, UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND,
JOHANNESBURG, IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT OF THE MASTER
OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT (HOUSING).
JOHANNESBURG 2014 / Based on evidence of the performance of a public-private partnership (PPP) housing arrangement
in Masvingo City, Zimbabwe, I argue that PPPs may not thrive in youthful democracies
entrenched in informal approaches to project management. The PPP strategy which was meant to
deliver about 10 000 housing units in Masvingo City has dismally failed to live to its expectation,
save for an ignited spirit of cooperativism. This is in spite of what was dubbed as a potentially
promising partnership strategy involving indigenous private developers and contractors.
Yet the compulsory acquisition of urban and peri-urban farmland country-wide presented powerful
launch pad for a promisingly successful housing delivery that is widely expected to wipe out
serious housing deficits. Housing problems were recently further compounded by Operation
Murambatsvina in 2005 which ruthlessly demolished all informal housing and left several
hundreds of thousands homeless.
Following an insightful in-depth interview methodology and several ground-truthing trips to the
Victoria Ranch Housing Project site, I argue that Government of Zimbabwe (GOZ) arrangements
in terms of legal, administrative and financial aspects were weak to enable successful
implementation of a formal PPP strategy. The arrangements advertently or inadvertently promoted
privatism instead of the mutually beneficial PPP arrangement. As such, there were no clear
regulatory mechanisms and modalities to enable beneficiation of the targeted low-income people
and other economically weaker sections of the Masvingo City Community. There are fears that
undeserving better-offs could have hijacked the scheme.
However, a commendable resilience has emerged through a resurgent self-help housing delivery
approach resulting in many self-built houses in what is widely viewed as a “peculiar” parallel
development. While it could be too early to meaningfully comment on the long-term performance
of the PPP approach, it is clear that justice has not been done to low-income people in Masvingo
who remain largely homeless.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/15808 |
| Date | 27 October 2014 |
| Creators | Chikomwe, Savory |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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