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Discussion paper on effects of operations restore order
Jonah Mudehwe, Executive Director, National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO)
June 15, 2005

1. Preamble
Whilst acknowledging that the Government has a responsibility to lead its people, protect the citizens, provide basic services and maintain law and order in the country, concern has been raised over Operations Restore Order (Murambatsvina).

I therefore want to believe that it is within the above responsibility that the Government has embarked on the project "Operation Restore Order Murambatsvina" in order to move the country from a state of disorderliness, crime and dirt to that of orderliness, lawfulness and cleanliness. There is nothing wrong with the idea of cleaning up cities and getting rid of crime.

Unfortunately the current state of affairs in the country has been a gradual build up over 1½ decade as people responded to lack of decent housing, loss of jobs in the formal sector and the general rise in poverty. The situation has been compounded by a rise in HIV/AIDs and overwhelming increase in the number of orphans. The high inflation and a cost of living beyond reach has also been facilitating factors.

Effecting a project like Operation Restore Order against this background therefore becomes a mammoth task. The question therefore becomes "How are we moving from the current state of bad things to the desired state of good things.

Chairperson, every project has costs and benefits. It may be difficult for me to talk about the benefits of Operations Restore Order, as I am not privy to the master plan of the project. I shall therefore talk about the effects/costs of the current project and some proposed way forward.

2. Categories of affected people
Those are six categories of people who are affected directly by the current operation.

Viz:

1. Home seekers – these are the people who have been staying in overcrowded hostels, backyard shacks and are tenants or lodgers. Over the years, they had become organized into housing co-operatives, most which are registered. By the clean up exercise most of these people have been displaced from their homes.
2. Informal traders – these constitute mainly of cross boarder traders and operators of flea markets. With the destruction of flea markets, which were their outlets, their livelihoods have been affected.
3. Vegetable/Street vendors – this is another group of people who were surviving from selling vegetables and flowers within certain points of town.
4. Home industrialists (Siyaso/Gazaland) – Families have been surviving for a along time from home industries. The clean-up exercise has also destroyed their livelihood.
5. Street kids/Street people – for a long time the country has been battling with how to deal with Street kinds. These have been cleared from the streets.
6. Vulnerable groups – The elderly, orphans, disabled, sick people and HIV/AIDs patients, child headed households and female-headed households.

3. Effects

• reduced productivity due to absenteeism
• new pressure on wage increases
• informal sector had been sustaining the formal sector
• workers demanding accommodation from employers
• company closures
• Increase in bad debts

3.2. Family

• increase in domestic violence
• tension in the homes
• family life disrupted by relatives seeking refuge
• exposure of family to open space and bad weather
• some children have stopped going to school – displacement
• loss of income from informal trade/rental

3.3. Children

• schooling has been interrupted
• costs of transfers/uniforms
• problem of transferring mid-term
• indecent exposures
• children traumatized
• who is taking care of the movement of orphans

3.4. People living with AIDs

• the network for distribution of ARVs has been disrupted
• proximity to major hospitals giving out drugs
• workplace programmes disrupted
• exposure of patience to bad weather

3.5. Elderly

• increased stress
• homelessness

3.6. Social fabric

• loss of hope/despair
• social conflicts
• diseases outbreaks
• malnutrition
• loss of life
• loss of property
• loss of dignity of human being
• threat to national values

3.7. Macro – economic/national development

• costs of displacement

4. Proposed Way Forward

1. Provide emergency aid to people who are living out there in the cold. Access to be provided to those who want to help.
2. Destruction and reconstruction cannot run concurrently. Stop the destruction and re-deploy national efforts and resources to reconstruction.
3. Mobilize national support towards the master plan for reconstruction.
4. Communication to the people of what is going on – constant feedback on achievements.

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