Assignment of Functions (Minister of National Housing and Social Amenities) (Amendment) Notice, 2024 (No.1)

This notice reshuffles which statutes the Minister of National Housing and Social Amenities administers, amending the schedule to the 2023 assignment notice published in S.I. 205 of 2023.

Six items are deleted outright: the Architects Act [Chapter 27:01], the Harare Municipality Building (Private) Act [Chapter 25:05], the Housing and Building Act / Housing Standards Control Act [Chapter 29:08], the Housing Standards Control Act [Chapter 29:08], the Immovable Property (Prevention of Discrimination) Act [Chapter 10:02] and the Valuers Act [Chapter 27:18].

Three of those are then put back in, but on a shared basis. The Harare Municipality Building (Private) Act returns as co-administered; the Housing and Building Act / Housing Standards Control Act returns co-administered with the Minister of Local Government and Public Works; and the Housing Standards Control Act returns as co-administered.

The practical upshot is that professional regulation — architects, valuers — and the anti-discrimination statute on immovable property move away from this portfolio, while building and housing standards become jointly run with Local Government. Anyone seeking a ministerial decision under those statutes should check which Minister now holds it.

A caveat on the drafting. Two of the re-inserted items are described as "co-administered with the Minister of National Housing and Social Amenities" — that is, with the very Minister whose schedule this is, which cannot be what was meant. The instrument also names both a "Housing and Building Act, Housing Standards Control Act [Chapter 29:08]" and a separate "Housing Standards Control Act [Chapter 29:08]" under the same chapter number. The notice cites no enabling provision and states no commencement date. Read the schedule in the gazette before relying on any single line of it.