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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Operation Murambatsvina - Countrywide evictions of urban poor - Index of articles
Zimbabwe:
Mugabe's clean-up houses find no takers in city
ZimOnline
May 09, 2006
http://www.zimonline.co.za/headdetail.asp?ID=12070
MASVINGO - Scores
of victims of the government's controversial home demolition campaign
last year are refusing to occupy replacement houses built by the state
in the southern Masvingo city saying they are substandard and not suitable
for human habitation.
The government hurriedly
launched the home-building exercise last year to try to ward off criticism
by the United Nations, Western governments and local human rights groups
for destroying shanty towns and informal businesses in a campaign that
left at least 700 000 people homeless and indirectly affected another
2.4 million people.
But economic experts
pointed out that the government - battling for cash to import fuel, electricity
and food among many other key commodities in critical short supply in
the country - did not have the resources to build houses for all the people
it had made homeless.
"The houses are
so badly built that we are afraid they may collapse on us," said
one of the intended beneficiaries of the houses, who did not want to be
named for fear of victimisation.
The man said in addition
to shoddy handiwork by the contractor, the houses also did not have safe
drinking water or sanitary facilities with recipients being asked to dig
up wells for drinking water and pit latrines.
"We have already
made our concerns known to the authorities and they are aware of the situation,"
the man said.
Masvingo provincial
governor Willard Chiwewe would not accept complaints that the houses are
substandard, warning that the government might have to find other people
who wanted the houses if intended beneficiaries were not happy with them.
"If the intended
beneficiaries are saying the houses are substandard then it means we will
have to look for new people," said Chiwewe.
The government had
initially said it would build houses for everyone whose home was demolished
but has since abandoned the idea for lack of resources and in some cases
displaced people were given incomplete houses and asked to finish building
them themselves.
UN envoy Anna Tibaijuka,
who toured Zimbabwe for two weeks to probe the demolitions, criticised
the government for rushing to destroy shantytowns before providing alternative
and acceptable accommodation for inhabitants.
The UN envoy said
the home demolition campaign violated victims' human rights and could
also have breached international law.
The government, which
says the demolition campaign was necessary to smash crime and restore
the beauty of Zimbabwe's cities, rejected the UN
report saying Tibaijuka was pressured by Western governments to write
a negative report they could use to demonise Harare. - ZimOnline
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