Abstract
This article compares private-led development with public-led development within the private-public partnership approach framework in the growth process of Ruwa Town in Zimbabwe. The comparison gives insights into the best alternatives to post-colonial urban development in Zimbabwe in general and Ruwa Town in particular at a time when the government of Zimbabwe is contemplating adopting the private-public partnership approach to urban development. Ruwa has been involved in a transition in urban development approach, from public-led development to private-led development. The town is outstanding for involving private land developer companies (PLDCs) in develo** its urban infrastructure. The companies were invited by the public sector to create a partnership in service provision and infrastructure development. Upon entering the land market in Ruwa, from 1987, the companies bought land from commercial farmers around the town which they developed into residential, commercial and industrial areas before selling it to individuals and other entrepreneurs. Public-led development in Ruwa was driven by the Government and the Ruwa Town local authorities, and these public entities developed their own industrial areas and residential parks. In comparing private- and public-led developments, the article uses qualitative research methods to derive research data. The comparison proves that the companies were more effective in providing quality infrastructure. Although the companies had some shortcomings which retarded growth in the area, the article argues that they were the most appropriate vehicles of transformation in Zimbabwe’s urban development process from a public-led approach to a neo-liberal approach.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle are vernacular words which means good living.
Kuma USAID means areas developed by USAID.
Murambatsvina is a Shona word which means to remove filth.
SEDCO is an organ under the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development. It should be noted that this organ had nothing whatever to do with the Operation Garikai/Hlalani Khuhle programme.
These statics and figures were collected during Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation period which normalised in 2009 after the adoption of a multi-currency system.
The Ruwa Housing Waiting List is a list of home seekers in Ruwa. People pay a small amount of money to buy an application form for their names to be listed on the list. One should be a Ruwa resident and should not own any house to be on the Housing List. Whenever there is a housing project for the low-income earners, the council considers the people on the Housing List first to be beneficiaries.
References
Bond, P. (2000). Cities of gold, townships of coal: essays on South Africa’s new urban crisis. Asmara: Africa World Press Inc..
Brenner, N., & Theodore, N. (2002). Cities and the geographies of “actually existing neoliberalism”. Antipode, 33, 349–379.
Chakaodza, A. M. (1993). Structural adjustment in Zambia and Zimbabwe: reconstructive or deconstructive? London: Third world Publishing House.
Chirisa, I. (2013). Housing and stewardship in peri-urban settlements in Zimbabwe: a case study of Ruwa and Epworth. PhD thesis, Department of Rural and Urban Planning, University of Zimbabwe.
Didier, S., & Peyroux, M. M. (2013). The adaptive nature of neoliberalism at the local scale: fifteen years of city improvement districts in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Antipode, 45(1), 121–139.
Dzimiri, P., & Runhare, T. (2012). The human security implications of operation restore order on urban habitation in Zimbabwe. Journal of Human Ecology, 38(3), 191–205.
Friedman, M. (1962). Capitalism and freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago.
Friedmann, J. (1980). The right to the city. California: University of California Graduate School.
Harvey, D. A. (2005). Brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Harvey, D. (2013) The right to the city. Available at http://www.davidharvey.org/media/righttothecity.pdf. Accessed 11 Nov 2014.
Jessop, B. (2002). Liberalism, neoliberalism, and urban governance: a state–theoretical perspective. Antipode, 34, 452–472.
Kamete, A. (2001). USAID’s private sector housing programme in urban Zimbabwe: examining the terrain from the terraces. Journal of Environment and Urbanisation, 13(1), 125–135.
Klein, M. (2015). Public-private partnerships: promise and hype. Washington DC: World Bank.
Leigland, J. (2018). Public-private partnership in develo** countries: the emerging evidence base critique. The World Bank Research Observer, 33, 103–134.
Mashonaland Holdings Private Limited (2014). Company profile, Available at http://www.masholdings.co.zw . Accesses 19 Oct 2014.
Miraftab, F. (2004). Private-public partnerships: the Trojan horse of neo-liberal development. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 24, 89–101.
Mirowski, P. (2013). Never let a serious crisis go to waste: how neoliberalism survived the financial meltdown. London: Verso.
Mlambo, A. S. (1997). The economic structural adjustment programme: the case of Zimbabwe, 1990–1995. Harare: University of Zimbabwe Publications.
Moszoro, M. & Krzyzanowska, M. (2011). Implementing public-private partnership in municipalities. available at http://www.iese.edu/research/pdfs/DI-0908-E.pdf. Accessed 2 July 2015.
Muzorewa, T. T. (2017). The role of private land developers in urban development in Zimbabwe: the case of Ruwa Town, 1980–2015. PhD thesis, Department of Development Studies, Midlands State University.
Muzorewa, T. T., & Nyandoro, M. (2019). Investment by private land developer companies and postcolonial urban growth in Ruwa (Zimbabwe), 1986-2015. Town and Regional Planning, 74, 51–63.
Noorloos, F., & Klooserboer, M. (2018). Africa’s new cities: the contested future of urbanisation. Urban Studies, 55(6), 1223–1241.
Nyandoro, M., & Muzorewa, T. T. (2017). Transition from growth point policy to liberal urban development in Zimbabwe: the emergence of Ruwa Town, 1980-1991. The Journal for Transdiciplinary Research in Southern Africa, 13(1), 1–10.
Parliament of Zimbabwe. (2006). Second report of the portfolio committee on local government on progress made on the operation Garikai/Hlalani Khuhle Programme, first session of the sixth parliament, Harare.
Peck, J., & Tickell, A. (2002). Neoliberalizing space. In N. Brenner & N. Theodore (Eds.), Spaces of neoliberalism: urban restructuring in Western Europe and North America. Oxford: Blackwell.
Pinson, G., & Journel, M. C. (2016). The neo-liberal city-theory, evidence, debates. Politics, Governance, Territory, 4(2), 137–153.
Potts, D. (2000). Urban unemployment and migration in Africa: evidence from Harare 1985–1994. Development and Change, 31, 879–910.
RTR (1995). Letter from RLB town engineer to CNM and partners. Ruwa.
RTR (1996). USAID/MPCNH private sector housing programme, cost report variation order 1, 6. Ruwa.
RTR (2000). Letter to the department of physical planning from B. Saich Land Surveyor.
RTR Letter from Garikai Stand Owners Association to the Secretary Ruwa Town Council, 24 September 2009.
RTR (2012). Correspondence between the Ruwa Town Council and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities. Ruwa.
Ruwa Town Council (RTC) (2011). Ruwa town council at a glimpse, unpublished report. Ruwa.
Tama Consulting Surveyors (1999). Proposed subdivision of the remaining extent of York of Galway Estate, paper prepared for Wentspring Investments.
Tasan-Kok, T., & Baeten, G. (2012). Contradictions of neo liberal planning. Berlin: Springer.
Van Der Veen, M. (2009). Contracting for better places: a relational analysis of development agreements in urban development projects. Amsterdam: IOS Press.
ZIMRE Property investments private limited, company profile, available at http://www.zimre.co.zw, retrieved 19 October 2014.
Zinyama, T., & Nhema, A. G. (2016). Public-private partnerships: critical review and lessons for Zimbabwe. Public Policy and Administration Research, 5, 39–44.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Muzorewa, T.T. Public and Private-Led Urban Developments in Post-colonial Zimbabwe: a Comparative Study in Ruwa Town. Urban Forum 31, 197–213 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-020-09386-5
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-020-09386-5