Back to Index
This article participates on the following special index pages:
Operation Murambatsvina - Countrywide evictions of urban poor - Index of articles
"Crime
of poverty":Murambatsvina Part II
Solidarity Peace Trust
October 19, 2005
Download
this document WITH OUT pictures
- Word
97 version (304KB)
- Acrobat
PDF version (617KB)
If you do not have the free Acrobat reader
on your computer, download it from the Adobe website by clicking
here.
Download
this document WITH pictures
- Word
97 version (599KB)
- Acrobat
PDF version (1MB)
If you do not have the free Acrobat reader
on your computer, download it from the Adobe website by clicking
here.
Executive
summary
1. Introduction
The
July UN report on the demolitions in Zimbabwe has become the definitive
report on events between May and the end of June 2005. Other reports
have covered in detail urban and peri-urban aspects of OM. Political
analysis, assessment of the judiciary, and quantification of those
affected are variously covered by other human rights reports released
since July.
The current
report is the first to systematically follow more than one hundred
of the displaced into the rural contexts in which they now find
themselves. This report focuses on events since the end of July
in Matabeleland, notably Bulawayo and Victoria Falls.
Two issues of
humanitarian relevance are explored in the report:
- whether "Operation
Garikai /Hlalane Kuhle" will really offer relief to those
displaced
- will humanitarian
aid from other sources, including government, arrive any time
soon?
- We provide
information on current whereabouts of 1,400 IDPs.
- We summarise
a number of cases from the 150 plus interviews conducted by the
authors since July, to give a cross section of current situations
of IDPs.
- We present
findings from structured interviews with 100 IDPs.
Zimbabwe remains
a nation on the move. Families interviewed have moved as many as seven
times in the last few months and are still unsettled. Socio-economic
conditions continue to deteriorate and people are still sliding from
one situation to another – socially, economically, geographically
and in terms of access to basic resources – they slide ever downwards.
2. "Operation
Murambatsvina": how many were affected?
The
UN report estimated 700,000 were directly affected, based on government’s
own figures for structures destroyed. Another 2,4 million were indirectly
affected. The government continues to contest these figures and
to maintain that there is no humanitarian crisis. One survey found
only 6% of those affected had received any help in the first two
months of demolitions. NGOs still have no clear idea of actual numbers,
but it is hard to find a family not somehow affected by loss of
housing or income within their community or family.
3. "Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle" – a revolutionary programme or mere
window dressing?
Minister
Stan Mudenge in late July challenged people to see and judge for
themselves the successes of OG/HK - "Operation Live Well";
the authors take up this challenge. 25,000 houses were supposed
to be built nationwide by the end of August. In July the government
promised Z$ 3 trillion for the rebuilding programme, which they
claim was the real intention behind the demolitions. This was downwardly
revised to 1 trillion, and only 300 billion has actually been financed
during 2005. This amount has been drastically undermined by rampant
inflation since July: in real terms less than 5% of the Z$ 3 trillion
promised has materialised.
Housing
needs prior to OM
In
Bulawayo, the housing lists prior to OM stood at 70,000 names. This
has risen to 80,000 since the demolitions resulted in the loss of
over 10,000 structures. Around 350,000 people are needing housing
– 30% of Bulawayo’s population. Inter Ministerial Committees headed
by the army have taken over many city council roles, including building
and allocating of houses.
Promises
– and the reality
Bulawayo
was repeatedly promised 1,003 houses and 41,000 stands by the end
of August. At first 46, and then 10 vendors’ stalls were promised.
By two weeks after the 31 August deadline, fewer than 200 houses
were roofed, but not serviced. 532 stands were allocated and 4 vendors’
stands were partially constructed. Targets were dismally failed
countrywide, and in some areas building was at a complete standstill.
By mid October, 280 houses had been constructed in Bulawayo, but
occupation of these is scheduled only for 2006. In any case, these
houses, while welcome, will hardly dent the housing waiting lists.
Who will
get the houses?
There
is no answer to this question yet in Bulawayo, as by mid October,
no houses had been allocated. The city council has given comprehensive
long (80,000) and short lists to the IMC, as they have total control
over who gets houses under OG/HK. The short list included those
who have been on housing lists for years and who have been displaced
under OM, as well as civil servants displaced under OM. The city
council is clear that whoever gets the houses, will have to pay
rates and water. This rules out many victims of OM, who now live
in total poverty.
The
status of the informal sector
An
estimated 90,000 vendors have been affected by OM: 30,000 were arrested
in May and June, and their stands razed. In Bulawayo, a high court
decision ruled that the arrests and seizure of goods was illegal;
arrests nonetheless continue to date. Almost no vendors’ stands
have been built anywhere so far. "Operation Tsvairai",
begun in September, has enforced a policy of continued arrests countrywide
of vendors, who have now been five months without regular income,
in spite of tens of thousands countrywide being licensed by their
local city councils.
Conclusion
OG/HK
is window dressing. The authors believe that it is the government’s
unconvincing alibi in the event of their being prosecuted for crimes
against humanity; it maintains a façade for the theory that
the demolitions reflected a desire, however misguided, to help the
poor and honour the government’s "responsibility to protect".
Download
full document
Visit the Solidarity
Peace Trust fact
sheet
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|