Plate 9.5: Gas Welders Working along Madzindadzi Road
9.4 Implications on Master and Local Planning
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displeasing pigsty deprived Aldred of his personal dignity and was a violation of his rights. As such, industrial activities that are injurious to public health and the environment must be prohibited.
Economically, lessors are enjoying revenue in the form of rent and depriving the City of Harare of potential revenue. Land compartmentalisation practices in home industries are only benefiting individuals who are assuming role of lessors. In this case, if the tax measure is introduced, the lessees are likely averting to contribute to the fiscus since they are unrecognised as lawful occupiers of such land parcels thereby depriving the revenue authorities of much needed revenue.
Apart from over concentration in designated stands in home industries, some manufactures are dotted along roadsides, open spaces and boundaries of home industries. This denotes growth of successful clusters (Porter, 1990). However, uncontrolled growth inconveniences other road consumers and the public. Road shoulders in all study sites are littered by manufacturers and retailers who in turn force pedestrians to walk along carriageways and subsequently disturb the smooth movement of vehicular traffic. One of the main aims of the RTCPA [Chapter 29:12] is to support convenience and safety of the public. According to law, it is not permissible because it advances personal interests at the expense of public interests as explained in the case of Vainona Estate Ltd and others versus Anderson and Anderson 1960 R and N 382.
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Powers of local planning authority to implement plan or scheme
(1) Subject to any limitations imposed by this Act, a local planning authority shall be empowered to do anything which is necessary to implement an operative master plan or local plan or an approved scheme.
This section empowers the LPA to do anything that is provided for by the Act to operationalize an existing master or local plan. This provision seriously questions the effectiveness of the planning law in Zimbabwe. Manufacturing undertakings along roadsides, carriage ways and on open spaces are not permissible by law. Considering that manufacturing activities in Harare and elsewhere are pseudo−permanent activities, it implies operative master and local plans have been changed by the huge force of urban informality. From an aesthetic viewpoint, the contrast in height of buildings is an eye sore as displayed in Plate 9.3.
Plate 9.3: An Example of Subdivision of Properties at Gazaland (Study Findings, 2017) There is an outbuilding to the right of the picture. This outbuilding is constructed in line with
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a main building. Such an outbuilding is not permissible at law since it is sitting on building lines and is moreover a sub−standard building without supporting building plans. This small outbuilding is a brake sales shop. Behind this is a brake moulding oven where they rebound brake shoes and pads and then display them for sale in the shop. This development is common in all home industries, particularly at Gazaland where property owners compartmentalize their properties with no approval from the LPA. They then amass rentals from tenants.
Such unapproved changes on the operative original and local plans have economic, health, order and convenience implications discussed in Section 9.3. Probable action that the LPA can take includes issuing a warning, or a Prohibition Order (PO) in accordance with Section 34, or an Enforcement Order (EO) in pursuance of Section 32 of the RTCPA [Chapter 29:12]. The LPA can also remove, demolish or discontinue targeted activities in accordance with Section 35(1) after following what is provided for by Section 35(2) of the same Act. Olivia Zenda Phiri versus City of Harare T9/15 provides a practical example where an appellant was served with three orders for one case as explained in the preceding section of this chapter. Alternatively, the LPA can advise all property owners who have changed the intended use of their properties without their authority to regularise such changes as provided for by Section 27 of the RTCPA [Chapter 29:12] which reads:
Where any development has been carried out in contravention of section twenty-four an application may be made in terms of section twenty-six in respect of that development and the local planning authority shall deal with that application in terms of that section but any permit granted thereunder shall take effect from the date on which the buildings were constructed, the operations were carried out or the use was instituted, as the case may be.
Regularisation of existing developments is more ideal if there are very few cases involved. For instrumental cases such as urban informality which is growing at an unprecedented rate, it will
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be very difficult to regulate activities in question because of their large volume. Instead, the RTCPA [Chapter 29:12], through its Section 13(1)(b) provides:
…before altering or replacing any master plan or local plan, undertake, if it thinks fit, a fresh study of the planning area or any part thereof or of a neighbouring area, examining the matters referred to in paragraph (a); and…
Applying this provision to the gigantic force of urban informality, it is sensible to undertake a fresh research of the planning area to determine the magnitude of informality (in this case) and consider redeveloping the area to accommodate the growing population. Results of the current study partly serve that purpose because they give an accurate location of all manufacturers in studied home industries. Accurate maps of current spatial distribution of informal manufacturers can be overlaid on operative master and local plans to determine the level of contravention, and make a knowledgeable decision and subsequently inform action.