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Disgusted by the demolition of poor people's homes and market stalls by Government of Zimbabwe
Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled (SAFOD)
June 20, 2005

Save our souls (SOS)

TO: Southern African Development Community (SADC)
African Union (AU)
United Nations (UN)

SUBJECT: Disgusted by the demolition of poor people's homes and market stalls by government of Zimbabwe

1. The Southern Africa Federation of the Disabled (SAFOD) is an organization of national federations of organizations of disabled people from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, with its offices in Zimbabwe and Botswana. SAFOD was formed in 1986 and was registered as a non-profit making and non-partisan organization in Zimbabwe in October 1989 and Botswana in October 2004. Since its formation, SAFOD has coordinated and implemented a number of development programmes designed to address the socio-economic rights of disabled people in Southern Africa.

SAFOD’s mission is: “To help society to transform itself into a new society where all people, including disabled people, women and workers, men and children are treated with dignity, respect and on the basis of equality.”

2. It is in view of the above that as SAFOD we are appalled and disgusted by the destruction of people’s homes and businesses by the Zimbabwean Government in the so-called clean-up campaign “Operation Murambatsvina” (translated as “drive out the rubbish”). The campaign which has been in force for close on to three weeks now has seen thousands of people living in the urban areas of the country being evicted from their homes and market stalls. During the forced evictions which are being carried out without notice and without court orders, police and other members of the security forces have been using excessive force to either burn or pull down homes and informal market stalls, destroying property, and beating up individuals.

In Harare alone, the capital city of Zimbabwe, an estimated 300 000 families have so far been displaced by the clean-up campaign, and there are police threats that this campaign will spread to other areas beyond the urban centres.

Thousands of informal traders were arrested during the crackdown for “not possessing trading licences,” and their goods were either destroyed or confiscated. Why on earth should a government do this to its own defenceless law-abiding citizens?

As SAFOD we are particularly concerned with the situation of disabled men and women, and their families, who have been affected by this diabolic operation. According to World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, disabled people represent a significant percentage of any population; they constitute not less than 10% of the population. Being the poorest of the poor, and therefore unemployed, a majority of disabled urban dwellers were living in the type of housing units that were destroyed. For those who were running small businesses such as fruit and vegetable stalls, hair salons, flea markets, etc, also had their businesses destroyed. The forced destruction and/or closure of informal businesses and settlements has obviously worsened the situation of disabled people and their families in the country.

Some of the affected disabled people were women that had been assisted with funding by SAFOD and other local and international agencies to set up their own income generating projects that have now been destroyed. These people no longer have the means to earn a living and are sleeping out in the cold. Their future is bleak and there is no clear solution to their predicament. What is clear is that government itself cannot offer any meaningful solution to this problem as all they have done so far is to either auction or abuse people’s property, and to remove some of the affected people to some remote farms they have designated as “Transit Camps.” These farms are not only just bush and crowded but also have no suitable toilets and clean water.

At one such farm called Caledonia, for example, people are living in small refugee-type of tents which are not suitable for human habitation. People are living as refugees in their own country, and children of affected families are no longer attending school. One shudders to imagine the situation of HIV and AIDS patients who have been receiving home-based care and were living in the homes that have been demolished by the Government.

3. As “Operation Murambatsvina” or “Restore Order” is a nation-wide campaign, there are fears that this exercise will spread fast to outlying areas of the country, including smaller towns and growth points. This, in our view, is a programme that is not in the interest of anybody, whether rich or poor. Whereas the rest of the world is talking about “making poverty history” through the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Zimbabwe Government, through its policies, is promoting impoverishment of its own citizens. Someone somewhere should intervene to stop the on-going activities. This is an urgent SOS to the SADC, African Union, and the United Nations. We urge you to urge the Zimbabwe Government to immediately stop this operation and assist the affected people, especially disabled people, to get on with their lives and business operations without interference. The international community is being further urged to render any form of support that can help the affected people to start all over again!

We thank you in advance for your support.

Alexander M. Phiri
Director General
SAFOD

CC:

• Disabled Peoples’ International (DPI)
• Pan African Federation of the Disabled (PAFOD)
• African Decade Secretariat
• Civil Society Organisations

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