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Monthly Monitoring Report - July 2005
Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP)
August 18, 2005

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Executive Summary

"Operation Restore Order, while purporting to target illegal dwellings and structures, and to clamp down on alleged illicit activities, was carried out in an indiscriminate and unjustified manner, with indifference to human suffering ........." (UN special envoy to Zimbabwe Anna Tibaijuka on Operation "Murambatsvina")

The widely discredited ‘clean up’ exercise continued to dominate the month of July, with the much awaited UN report, albeit damning, occupying the crest of media stories on the controversial ‘clean up’ blitz.

The unfolding drama created by the Operation Murambatsvina left in its wake, a trail of destruction in various forms including, inter alia, loss of shelter, politically motivated violence and associated human rights abuses.

In a futile attempt to ‘hide’ the ills brought about by the UN-condemned blitzkrieg, the national authorities laboured to deodorise the human rights violations by insisting that the campaign was positive.

Events chronicled below serve to indicate the extent to which the perceived disastrous crusade caused untold suffering countrywide.

In a very serious development at Taratu farm (Chipinge north) on 8 July, the MP Morris Sakabuya, in the company of two officials from Chipinge town council N and D reportedly forced the Ps, a white elderly couple who own the farm to hide at least three dozen families who had been staying in the open after being displaced by Operation Murambatsvina. This came after a false alert was made that the  UN special envoy Annah Tibaijuka’s team would visit the constituency to assess the ‘clean up’.

In what could be an outright case of human rights abuses, it was reported that M, whose dwelling in the MacGregors section of Sakubva high density area in Mutare Central was destroyed during Operation Murambatsvina, reportedly died on 7 July of pneumonia due to exposure as he was now living in the open.

Traditional leaders reportedly continued to victimise individuals in the name of cleansing their villages of ‘undesirable elements’. It was reported in Bikita West on the 10^th that SM and JC, who were among scores of people displaced by the ‘clean up’ campaign, were reportedly asked to prove their allegiance to the ruling party before getting the chiefs’ approval for them to resettle in such villages like Makuwe and Munyika.

The capital city also had its fair share of Operation Murambatsvina-induced human rights violations. For example it is alleged that on the 12^th, JM of the MDC was allegedly assaulted by RM, a Zanu PF supporter in Budiriro 3 after the said victim expressed support of the damning UN report on the contentious ‘clean up’ campaign.

In a very unusual occurrence in Dzivarasekwa on the 5^th, three MDC supporters, TN, CC and M were allegedly assaulted by five Zanu PF supporters for helping the police to destroy vendors’ stalls. The police are said to have acted immediately to arrest the alleged perpetrators.

The Midlands province reported a high number of human rights violations as a result of the far-from-peaceful ‘clean up’ exercise. For example in Mberengwa West on 3 July, a gang of suspected Zanu PF supporters led by BM allegedly assaulted AC in Chegato ward using an assortment of weapons including an axe handle after the said victim was heard vehemently criticising the ‘clean up’ campaign. It is said the victim only came to after relatives rushed him to Chegato hospital where he received treatment.

The divisive ‘clean up’ campaign has left a dent on the country’s human rights record. It is the ZPP’s view that this works against the interests of the country to earn such an undesirable ‘accolade’ and has once again made Zimbabwe the centre of unwanted international attraction.

The ZPP continues to urge national policy makers to dutifully review their domestic policies, if at all they intend to be seen as credible candidates to steer the country out of the quagmire we find ourselves in.

We also urge the government to work closely with relevant bodies, internationally or locally in coming up with peaceful solutions to the humanitarian crisis created as a result of Operation Restore Order.

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