Westwood, Harare

Westwood is a somewhat anomalous area in the history of Harare. It was originally founded as a European residential area but became a non-racial township in terms of the Land Tenure Act, as a response to political pressure. It was proposed as the second 'high class suburb' that both middle class blacks and whites could buy into after, Marimba Park in 1962. Due to its location near the city's industrial zone, affluent residents did not buy into the suburb. Instead it became a multicultural area, one to which many poorer people living below the ridge in the locations aspired to. It was also a place which attracted many of the waves of migrants at the time seeking a new life.[2]

During the 1970s it enjoyed a brief heyday as a liberal bastion within the city, however, when nearby, Kambuzuma was established on its borders most whites moved away and by 1980 its population of was nearly all Black. The flight of whites out of the area in some ways gave the lie to the apparently liberated nature of the area in the 1970s. While seemingly non-racial in that period, the area was still definitely under the 'control' of the white municipality.[3]

Kambuzuma (established in 1963) was the one of the first home ownership core-housing scheme undertaken by the local council for working class Africans, on the southern border of Westwood. 'Core-housing' involved public construction of a 'wet core' (sewerage and ablution facilities and a stand-pipe) and two rooms which could be incorporated into a larger house 'as, and when, the occupant could afford extensions. The goal was for residents to provide labour for the southwest industrial area as well as the residents of Westwood. Ironically enough, it was the councils very investment in the nascent area, that made the suburb less desirable to whites, many off whom soon moved away followed by much of the black middle class after 1980.[3]

Today, the majority of the residents are long term lower middle class residents with jobs in nearby Willowvale and incoming migrants from the working class suburbs (euphemistically termed high density suburbs), in search of better accommodation, however, unemployment is higher than areas to the north but better off than higher density areas. An urban regeneration programme is underway, but progress has been hampered by long standing local council corruption. There are street markets, mainly used by local residents, and an art gallery, which contains work by major local artists.[3]