AFRIKA FOCUS-Volume 25, Nr. 2, 2012- pp. 45-63 Perpetual 'Outcasts'? Squatters in peri-urban Bulawayo, Zimbabwe 1 Busani Mpofu Humanities Faculty, University of Pretoria, South Africa After independence in 1980 Zimbabwe's cities experienced a proliferation in the number of squat· ter camps. This was because of the failure of the urban economy to offer adequate housing and jobs, leaving peri-urban space as the only sanctuary for the urban poor to live in and eke out a living informally. The promotion of rural 'growth points' by the national government to promote rural development to discourage migration to urban areas failed. Yet, a poor policy response by the state to this negative outcome of rapid urbanisation that aims to reverse this rural-urban mi­ gration has led to unending confrontations between its various arms and squatters who continue to be regarded as encroachers. Focussing on Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and based on interviews, archival research, Council minutes and newspapers, this article critiques the state's urban development policy vis-a-vis squatters and informality. It is argued that the persist· ence ofa salient perception by government officials that all Africans belong to rural areas and have access to land they can fall back on in hard times serves as a vital lubricant to the state's action of forcibly sending squatters to rural areas. This ignores the historical pattern of rapid urbanisation and the growth ofinformal economies supporting the livelihoods of thousands of people. I seek to add to the literature on low-cost housing shortages, urban squatters and peri-urbanism in Zim­ babwe and on studies ofinformality in Third World cities in general. Key words: squatters, outcasts, informality, institutional weaknesses, peri-urban Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Introduction Acute shortages oflow cost housing in Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 led to a proliferation of peri-urban squatting. This development, which signalled an increase in urban informality, confounded the expectations of the new state whose national de­ velopment discourse tended to prioritise the expansion of rural 'growth points" instead A draft of this paper was presented at GAPSYM5 (r)Urban Africa Symposium, Friday 2 December 20II, Ghent University, Ghent. I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers of this journal for their comments on the paper. The final views expressed in this article remain entirely mine. 2 These were rural centres chosen by the central government to serve rural communities and provide commercial, industrial and administrative functions. Initial central government investment in improving physical infrastruc­ ture was aimed at attracting more public and private investment which would eventually promote rural develop­ ment to discourage rural-urban migration in search for employment. For more information on this see B.M.C. Sibanda (1985) "Growth Points-A Focus for Rural Development in Zimbabwe" in A.gricultural Administration, 19: Downloaded from Brill.com09/28/2021(45 J 03:07:43AM via free access B. MPOFU of cities to stem the then increasing rural-urban migration flow. The state, however, has been bent on ensuring 'formality' in its urban centres, leading to endless confrontations with squatters. Various arms of the national and local authorities have also confronted each other and denied responsibility for addressing the squatter problem, signalling institutional weaknesses. It soon became apparent after independence that peri-urban space was, and will clearly continue to be, an arena in which competing claims are con­ stantly negotiated and re-negotiated (Trefon, 2on). National government officials thus labeled squatters with names ranging from 'outcasts', 'new gypsies ofour society', 'ban­ dits', 'social deviants' to 'criminals'. This conceptualisation oflivelihood strategies (peri­ urban squatting) by authorities is also reflected in the negative treatment of squatters in economic policy, legislation, planning and management. Based on interviews, archival research, Council minutes and newspapers, this article critiques the state's urban development policy vis-a-vis peri-urban squatting in Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe. Focussing on the experiences of the inhabitants of Killarney squatter settlement, which is the largest on the outskirts of Bulawayo, I argue that the state's policy ignores the historical pattern of rapid urbanisation, impact of war fuelled urban influx and the inevitable growth ofinformal housing sheltering thousands of homeless people. Its policy has thus been static, contradictory and based more on its desire for formality than the reality on the ground. This is generally because squatter communities have tended to be regarded as socially disorganised, as people that reject all forms of progress (Stren, 1975). My critique here acknowledges that development in Africa has always been a site of class struggle between the bureaucracy, both national and international, and the people who have been classified via a number oflabels. Hu­ man lives have been overlooked by bureaucratic planning strategies that ignore people's real interests and practices (Hart and Padayachee, 2010). I seek to add to the literature on low-cost housing shortages, urban squatters and peri-urbanism in Zimbabwe and on informal economies in Third World cities in general. A squatter settlement indicates housing that is a result of illegal occupation or has been developed in an unauthorised fashion (Aldrich & Sandhu, 1995). I view squatting here as a de facto phenomenon of the country's social and economic system, reflect­ ing shortages in socially acceptable housing and shortages in employment opportunities that are rewarding and formal in character (Stren, 1975), which thus requires economic­ rather than politically-oriented solutions, the latter being often guided by impractical political discourse. Squatter settlements indicate the failure of society and government to provide an adequate environment for human development. The amount of squatter housing indicates the extent of housing poverty in a society. The main characteristic of squatter housing is the lack of formal ownership of the land on which squatters reside (Aldrich & Sandhu, 1995). M. Juppenlatz (1970) defined squatters as "illegal occupants of urban land whether government or private property". J. van Valsen (1975) noted that in addition to being illegal occupants ofland, these people also infringe on a variety of 161-174 and K. H. Wekwete (1988), "Rural Growth Points in Zimbabwe-Prospects for the Future" in Journal of Social Development in Africa, 3, 2 :5-16. AFRIKADownloaded FOCUS-Volume from Brill.com09/28/2021 25, Nr. 2 03:07:43AM via free access Perpmial 'Outcasts'? Squatters in peri-urban Bulawayo, Zimbabwe building, planning and sanitation regulations. The manifestation ofurban squatting be­ comes apparent when the rate ofin-migration offamilies is greater than the rate at which a city can absorb or integrate the immigrants into the existing social structure of urban society. Homelessness is the most extreme effect of poverty associated with poor housing conditions (Oppeinheim, 1996). The regulation and control of urban areas that ensued after independence became an integral part of the construction of new identities by the national government, because it was intended to create areas which could not be classified as 'home', and to which peo­ ple could make no claim. The state was thus determined to ensure that those who did not fit neatly within its newly constructed urban identities were sent back to their 'homes' in rural areas even when the reality was that some may not have had any home to go to (Dor­ man, 2007). The persistence of this salient perception by the national bureaucracy that all Africans belong to rural areas and have access to land they can fall back on in hard times (Dorman, 2007) serves as a vital lubricant in the perpetuation of state discourse against squatting in Zimbabwe's urban areas. This suggests an urgent and critical 'need [for the state] to decolonize [its] imagination about city-ness ... ifit is to sustain [its] relevance to the key urban challenges of the twenty-first century' (Robinson, 2002; Demissie, 20II). The continuing refusal by both the city authorities and national government to ac­ knowledge a responsibility to provide for peri-urban squatter communities exposes seri­ ous institutional deficiencies in Zimbabwe. Across much of the rest ofAfrica and in many other regions, peri-urban disorder has recently taken on a new and much more positive glow. In South Africa, for example, while extreme poverty still exists in the formerly de­ prived and disorderly peri-urban shanties, townships and locations, these areas are no longer viewed as a horror to be exposed and denounced, but are now increasingly under­ stood as places of hope and possibility, sites of development rather than proof of the fail­ ure of development (Ferguson, 2007). Therefore, any sympathetic treatment of squatters in this work should not be interpreted as support for disorder in peri-urban areas, but as an attempt to highlight their normal human qualities, their motivations for entering the city and the activities they engaged in once there, as an attempt to better their lives in the face of serious disadvantages they suffered from (see Burton, 2005). Many studies have analysed the emergence and suppression of squatter settlements around Harare, Zimbabwe since the late 1970s (Patel, 1984; Patel, 1988; Bourdillon,