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Police target beggers in new clean up
The Standard (Zimbabwe)
May 07, 2006

http://www.thestandard.co.zw/viewinfo.cfm?linkid=11&id=770&siteid=1

POLICE in Harare have launched yet another clean-up campaign ridding the streets of beggars and street people, who have now been dumped at a temporary camp outside Ruwa, it has been learnt.

Scores of beggars and street children, rounded up during a controversial "Operation Murambatsvina" last year, had already started returning back to the streets, prompting police to launch the latest operation.

People living near Mbuya Nehanda Camp in Melfort last week said the place where the street people were being held, is being guarded round the clock by armed police.

"There are lot a of people that have been put at a camp here. There are some heavily armed police officers guarding the vagrants," said a source.

He added that the street people sleep in tents that were hastily pitched to accommodate them. Apparently, the police operation started just before the Easter Holidays.

Police refused to comment when contacted. Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena maintained that he does not speak to The Standard.

The government launched "Operation Murambatsvina" in May last year, razing shacks, homes, market stalls and small shops. The exercise left nearly one million people homeless, according to a United Nations report.

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