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Murambatsvina victim dies in Mbare
Henry Makiwa, SW Radio Africa
September 12, 2007

View the index of articles on Operation Murambatsvina

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news120907/muramvictim120907.htm

One of the millions of victims of Robert Mugabe's chaotic campaign to forcibly clear slum areas across the country has been found dead at her make shift home, in Harare's high-density suburb of Mbare.

Sources in Zimbabwe's capital said Wednesday that a middle-aged woman had been found dead by her neighbours in a wood-and-plastic shack she has been calling home since the Mugabe regime destroyed her's in 2005. The cause of the death is not known.

The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) has since taken the lead role in planning funeral arrangements and notifying the victim's immediate relatives.

CHRA vice chairman, Israel Mabhoo accused the government of "having a hand" in the deceased's demise.

Mabhoo said: "All these death could have been avoided if the government had the smallest of soft spots for its people in the heart. Had they considered that they are robbing someone of a home and livelihood we wouldn't be at this stage. The deceased woman was now living amongst a community of squatters in Mbare who like herself, had been driven out of their houses. We understand that she fell sick and eventually passed away. She had no immediate relatives close by so her body is still lying uncollected in Mbare."

Operation Murambatsvina was the large-scale government campaign to forcibly clear slum areas in urban areas. The government implemented the programme in May 2005, directly displacing 700 000 people, and ultimately affecting up to 2.4 million, according to the United Nations. Many of the victims are still living in the open.

The campaign met with harsh condemnation from Zimbabwean opposition parties, church groups, non-governmental organisations, and the wider international community. The UN has described the campaign as an effort to drive out and make homeless large sections of the urban poor, who comprise much of the internal opposition to the Mugabe regime.

Reports of the latest death come as the government launch a new "clean up" campaign in Harare's central business district, aimed at flushing out street vendors, vagrants and touts.

According to The Herald newspaper, the Harare City Council has launched a four-month blitz to rid the CBD of "illegal entities".

The paper reports that municipal police will be deployed from 6am to 10pm in the CBD and the Avenues area until year end to remove such 'elements' from the streets.

A municipal spokesperson told the state mouthpiece that 879 people had been arrested while 1,1 tonnes of perishables had been confiscated since the campaign began last week.

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