CIVIL servants are set to be given preferential treatment in the allocation of housing stands and houses under the National Settlement Regularisation and Sanitisation Programme, a cabinet minister has said. This was said “A conscious decision is underway to make sure civil servants benefit and given preference under social housing in the provinces they work. We should not disadvantage the civil service,” the Minister said. The Minister underscored that measures have been put in place to ensure the process of allocation of housing stands and houses was transparent. “We are going to be brutal on this issue because people need to have official papers. The Ministry want everything to be transparent that is why it is working with stakeholders like banks and lawyers. That is why the Ministry says no to land barons,” Cde Garwe said. Minister Garwe further said that he would not allow bureaucratic tendencies to derail the programme allaying fears that the NSRSP would remain a pie in the sky. “We need to stop being bureaucratic. The National Development Plan facilitates on the ease of doing business. It should not take two weeks to apply for housing papers and that work culture enables the ease of doing business,” said Cde Garwe. ZANU PF in its 2018 People’s Manifesto assured the electorate that it would put an end to irregular allocations of land and the development of shanty towns It further announced zero tolerance for land baronage that gave alarming rise wanton fleecing of home seekers.