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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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