MIRROR REPORTER

MASVINGO – Masvingo has become a University city but the town has not accepted its new status judging by the harsh living conditions of the 10 000 student population, lead planner for Masvingo’s next 20-year-master plan Dr Kudzai Chatiza has said.
Presenting his team’s findings on the study of the planning area to stakeholders at the Civic Center in Masvingo this Thursday, Dr Chatiza said the unfriendly environment includes exorbitant rentals of between US$200 and US$300 per semester, crammed accommodation where four students live in a room and shortages of water.
There is no green infrastructure for students i.e.; adequate swimming pools, parks, playing fields, sport facilities and this apply to all other youth in the town. Open spaces that used to provide playing fields including soccer pitches are being taken up by buildings and a good example is an open space in Rujeko which was taken up by Rujeko Secondary School two years ago.
The new master plan which is expected after August must deal with these issues which face students from Masvingo Poly, Great Zimbabwe University (GZU), Masvingo Teachers’ College and the Reformed Church University, said Dr Chatiza.
Instead of looking at students as a menace in the city, stakeholders must regard them as an economic opportunity that must be planned for. He argued that if each student pays US$300 in accommodation per semester, it means US$3 million is earned by the City in one semester alone adding that more money is earned through fees, buying food and paying for other services in the town.
“The city has not welcomed students and the evidence is found in the unfriendly environment that they live in. In a way we don’t like students, we don’t support them. When you erect boarding houses, you charge US$200 to US$300. They are crammed four in a room and sometimes they don’t have water and Wi-Fi which the boarding houses promise in the accommodation agreement.
“The City Council itself is not monitoring these boarding houses and the University only sees the students in the classroom,” said Dr Chatiza.
He said that both the City council and the private sector must plan for the students and regard them as an economic opportunity.
“We interviewed students, we got views from residents and we talked to council and the private sector and the universities and students are going to be planned for in the master plan,” said Dr Chatiza.
The fact that Masvingo is now regarded as a University City does not take away its status as a historical and tourist town. The University City status is merely being integrated in the historical town, he added.
The process of coming up with a master plan goes through five stages which are the inception where the process is introduced to stakeholders. The second stage is the study of the planning area where the planners establish the current situation in the city. In the third stage they make planning proposals and policies then the report is adopted by council in the fourth stage. The last and fifth stage will see the master plan being approved by the Minister of Local Government and Public Works.