Matapi flats crisis

Matapi Flats

By Staff Reporter

Matapi flats in Mbare are not merely decaying buildings, they are a human catastrophe unfolding in plain sight. Designed to house roughly 3,000 people, the complex now shelters an estimated 12,800 residents, more than four times its intended capacity. Rooms built for single migrant workers have become cramped family cells, with as many as 13 people sharing one room. The result is relentless overcrowding, collapsing infrastructure, and a daily assault on human dignity.

Raw sewage runs through living spaces where children play and families cook. Uncollected rubbish piles up in corridors, walls are cracked and crumbling, roofs leak, and drainage pipes are blocked. Water shortages are constant, electricity supply is erratic, and the risk of fire or structural collapse hangs over the estate like a dark cloud. ZHRC chairperson Jessie Majome captured the horror bluntly, “Standing there is not for people of nervous disposition,” she said, adding that no technology could fully capture the stench.

These conditions constitute a public health emergency. The environment is fertile ground for cholera, typhoid, and other waterborne diseases. The most vulnerable children, the elderly and people with disabilities bear the heaviest burden. Reports of repeated complaints by residents suggest the crisis is not sudden but chronic: appeals to the City of Harare for intervention have largely gone unanswered, while authorities point to unpaid rates as the reason for inaction.

That defence is inadequate. It ignores entrenched poverty and unemployment in Mbare and sidesteps the State’s constitutional obligation to progressively provide adequate housing, clean water, and sanitation. Rates collection cannot be used as an excuse for neglecting human dignity. The ZHRC has correctly classified the conditions at Matapi as a violation of human rights, including the right to dignity enshrined in Section 51 of the Constitution.

History shows that reports and promises alone do not fix systemic failure. Past initiatives, including a Gates Foundation‑funded renovation plan, collapsed amid political interference and partisan greed. Politicians have long used Mbare as a stage for empty pledges — from grand promises of modern apartments to derisive dismissals of residents who vote differently. The pattern is clear: diagnosis without delivery.

What Matapi needs now is decisive, funded action with measurable timelines and independent oversight. Immediate steps must include emergency sanitation, clean water delivery, fire‑safety inspections, and medical outreach to prevent outbreaks. Short‑term repairs should be followed by a transparent audit and a funded plan to decongest and rebuild safe housing. Long‑term solutions require community participation, accountable governance, and a commitment to restoring basic services.

Matapi is a test of political will. The law is clear, the moral imperative is urgent. Reports will be written and recommendations filed, but unless those documents are matched by budgets, deadlines, and accountability, the people of Mbare will remain trapped in a preventable tragedy.