City of Harare gives informal settlement owners 14 days to comply or face demolition

The City of Harare has given residents of regularised informal settlements 14 days to meet the requirements of its regularisation framework, or see their illegal structures demolished.

In a public notice issued on Monday, 26 October 2026, Acting Town Clerk Warren Sean Chiwawa said the directive applies to individuals and organisations that illegally occupied council, state or private land in Harare before the regularisation cut-off date of 23 September 2023, and that have since been recommended for regularisation and issued with partial certificates of compliance.

It also covers beneficiaries and housing associations that were spared demolition when they received partial certificates, but have since failed to meet the framework’s requirements.

To comply, affected property owners must visit their district offices and pay the prescribed penalties for illegally occupying council land and for illegal construction, as well as the full intrinsic value of the land. They must submit architectural plans for approval and pay penalties for illegally building roads, water and sewer infrastructure and for illegal connections to existing services. They must also complete any outstanding infrastructure.

Chiwawa said those who comply will have rates accounts opened in their names, while settlements that do not comply face demolition.

The council said all illegal structures on ecologically sensitive land, or on sites set aside for public facilities that cannot be regularised, will be demolished regardless. Any building work currently underway without council approval will also be stopped and demolished.

The deadline is 14 calendar days from the date of publication, which is 9 November 2026. After that, Chiwawa warned, the council will carry out demolitions and enforce the law without further notice, and owners will bear the full cost of demolition, rubble removal, site clearance and restoration.

“Council will act firmly, decisively and without fear or favour. No person, regardless of status, position, political affiliation or influence, is exempt from the application of the law,” the notice said.

Residents with questions can contact the Director of Urban Planning Services at Office 315, 3rd Floor, Cleveland House, on the corner of Leopold Takawira Street and Speke Avenue, or the Director of Housing and Community Services at the Housing Department head office, 2 Remembrance Drive, Mbare.

The council urged property owners to regularise their properties, both to protect their investment and to help build a well-planned city.