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Belvedere West residents were last night left homeless after armed soldiers demolished purported illegal structures near National Heroes Acre, TechMag TV can exclusively reveal.
Upon visiting the site on Tuesday night, TechMag TV crew witnessed three army trucks with a team of soldiers who have been assigned to destroy the structures.
The military apparatus was used to pull down the alleged illegal structures.
One female victim confirmed to this publication that residents were warned of the operation two days before the demolition kicked off.
She added that the army had been there a previous night, broke windows to signal final warning.
“Some residents with title deeds are being spared of the destruction, unfortunately we did not have, my house at that corner was the first one to be destroyed, there were no questions asked,” the affected female sadly narrated her ordeal.
When contacted for comment by TechMag TV, the Zimbabwe Defence Forces spokesperson Colonel Makotore confirmed that the structures in question were illegal, built on an army zone, hence deserve the current operation.
“These houses were built in cantonment, when an outsider invades your territory you do not wait for external help,” he said.
It was however not clear whether the said houses with title deeds were indeed spared or not as we could not clearly distinguish in the night.
The City of Harare has since distanced itself from the demolition exercise, “Council has a number of court orders to remove illegal structures. We would like to advise all people who were served with eviction orders to voluntarily move off the illegally occupied pieces of land.
Council did not remove any illegal structures in Belvedere West this week. Work was only carried out in Westlea yesterday,” the council spokesperson Michael Chideme said.
More details with visuals to follow
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