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Legal Monitor Issue 108
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
August 30, 2011

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Murambatsvina haunts elderly victim

In 2005, a man-made Tsunami deprived Mbuya Felistas Chinyuku of a roof over her head. Mbuya Chinyuku was one of the people swept away by the suddenness and scale of a government-backed programme of mass forced evictions.

Colloquially known more evocatively as "the Tsunami", Operation Murambatsvina (Clean-Up), which was embarked upon by the government on 18 May 2005, affected more than 700 000 people according to the United Nations-leaving them without a home or livelihood or both.

Most people were driven deeper into poverty by the forced evictions, a situation which has been further compounded by the country's economic crisis.

And six years on Mbuya Chinyuku remains the face of the cruel demolition exercise as the coalition government of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai continue to deny her of a suitable shelter. The right to housing is the economic, social and cultural right to adequate housing and shelter.

It is recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, to which Zimbabwe is a voluntary State Party.

According to lawyers representing the housing rights campaigner and former resident of Porta Farm, authorities at the Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development have attempted to deprive Mbuya Chinyuku of her allocated stand at Hopley Farm, some few kilometers outside Harare where she settled after Operation Murambatsvina.

Mbuya Chinyuku was barred from paying her annual lease fees at Makombe building in Harare. Lawyers say an official at the Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development offices only identified as Chikwature advised her that they would not accept her payment as she was suspected of inciting other people at Hopley Farm not to pay any money to the government for their stands.

"Mr Chikwature then advised our client that she (Mbuya Chinyuku) and her family would be dispossessed of their stands as it was a ministerial directive that she and her family should not get any stands as they are trouble makers," reads part of a letter written by Mbuya Chinyuku's lawyer Belinda Chinowawa of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).

Mbuya Chinyuku's tragedy did not end there as her daughter, Patience Gondo, a mother of three children was dispossessed of the stand originally allocated to her forcing her to move onto her mothers' stand.

Chinowawa accused the Ignatius Chombo led ministry of flagrant discrimination as her clients are legitimate beneficiaries of the resettlement programme at Hopley Farm.

"We remind you that discrimination is outlawed by the Constitution of Zimbabwe and as a public office you are bound by the provisions of the Constitution," wrote Chinowawa.

Chinowawa demanded that Mbuya Chinyuku should be allowed to pay lease fees for her stand while the Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development should restore possession and occupation of one of the housing stands to Gondo.

The human rights lawyer said failure to comply with her demand would invite litigation from the influential human rights organisation.

Amnesty International Zimbabwe executive director, Cousin Zilala, also weighed in defence of Mbuya Chinyuku testifying that Mbuya Chinyuku had "suffered many cases of victimisation and harassment."

In response to ZLHR's letter, one Chimoga from Chombo's ministry referred enquiries to the Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities which she claimed to be "responsible for all the affairs at Hopley Farm".

Hopley Farm is one of a number of settlements set up under Operation Garikai or Restore Order by President Mugabe's previous government to resettle hundreds of people left without a roof over their heads after Operation Murambatsvina.

But only a small number of displaced people were resettled while the majority of people were forced into overcrowded existing housing stock while others were forcibly relocated to rural areas.

The forced evictions drove people not only from their homes, but also from their market stalls, depriving informal traders of their means of of livelihood.

Since its creation in February 2009, the coalition government has done nothing to improve the plight of survivors of the forced evictions and their children who have been born in informal settlements.

Women have been especially affected since they form the majority of informal market traders and in many cases are the primary providers, not only for their own children but also for other children orphaned by the AIDS pandemic.

When informal traders attempt to resuscitate their trade and earn a living they are persistently obstructed by the authorities.

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