Homes now beyond reach of urban dwellers

High inflation continues to erode household incomes in Zimbabwe, forcing many people to reconsider the dream of owning their own home. Since his parents died a few years ago, 45-year-old Mhleli Ngwenya has lived with his family in a run-down three-roomed house in Makhokhoba, an old township in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city. It has always been his desire to buy a bigger home in one of the city's more affluent suburbs, but in recent years he has had to confront the fact that, given his meagre earnings, this may never become a reality. "I have worked tirelessly for more than 15 years, hoping I would be able to buy a decent house of my own someday, but this has remained only a dream. I have also tried doing part-time jobs but it hasn't helped," Ngwenya told IRIN. His monthly income, an estimated Zim $670,000 (about US $119), is spent on food, clothing and tuition fees for his three siblings, leaving very little to put towards buying a property. "Besides houses, everything - including food and clothes - has become too expensive, and life has become a nightmare. At one time I tried to get a loan from a certain financial institution to buy a house stand in Luveve 5 [a new suburb in Bulawayo] but the interest rate they were charging was just too much for a burdened and poorly paid worker like me," Ngwenya said. The effects of Zimbabwe's economic crisis have taken a heavy toll on the country's labour force, who have seen a steady decline in their monthly incomes and living standards. Current measures to arrest hyperinflation have brought some relief, but many households are still unable to afford a monthly food basket, which stood at Zim $1.4 million for a family of five in November. Ntando Nkomo, a truck driver, told IRIN that although he was better off than most people, he also could not afford to buy his own home. "I don't have a family of my own to look after as yet, but still I cannot make ends meet. My home for now is a backyard room in Nguboyenja, where I pay Zim $70,000 (about US $12) every month for rent," he said. Workers complain that their meagre salaries have failed to match the soaring costs of property in urban areas, and many families have instead opted to build cheap pole and mud brick dwellings in rural parts of the country. At the start of 2004, a four-roomed house in Bulawayo's western townships cost close to Zim $4 million (US $712) but the price has now increased to a whopping $30 million (US $5,357), or more. In the affluent eastern suburbs, a similar house used to cost around US $12,500, but has since trebled in price. "Most workers live terrible lives ... that is why we are lobbying for the improvement of the salaries of workers and stable prices [of goods]," remarked Wellington Chibhebhe, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trades Union.