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Zimbabwe NGOs highlight plight of crackdown victims
Stella Mapenzauswa, Reuters
May 16, 2006

http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L16774167

HARARE - Zimbabwe rights groups criticised neighbouring countries on Tuesday for downplaying government slum clearances which have left thousands of people homeless.

The United Nations says some 700,000 people lost their homes or their livelihoods when police bulldozed slums and what it called illegal structures in Harare and other towns last May.

Zimbabwe rights groups said victims still lived in abject destitution with limited international aid because Zimbabwe's neighbours in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) had minimised the impact of the crackdown.

"SADC maintains a position that there is no crisis in Zimbabwe (and hence) the humanitarian assistance response from the United Nations perspective has been low," said Itai Zimunya of rights group Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition.

"During these 8 weeks of commemoration we seek to highlight the socioeconomic crisis that the people of Zimbabwe are facing. Once SADC reforms its position at least it will open avenues for the international community to come and mitigate the suffering," Zimunya told Reuters after a tour of affected sites in Harare.

Critics say the slum demolitions worsened the plight of urban residents already facing rampant inflation, chronic food and fuel shortages and rising unemployment.

Mugabe denies responsibility for the rot, and in turn points to sabotage by local and foreign opponents of his controversial drive to forcibly redistribute white-owned farms among blacks.

Activists say President Robert Mugabe's government has largely failed to deliver on its promise to build 20,000 new houses to replace those demolished last year.

"The government has constructed 6,000 housing units across the country but these are not complete," Zimunya said.

"Even the few houses that the government has constructed are all going into the hands of the kith and kin of those that are in the top echelons of power."

Government officials could not be reached for comment.

The government says the slum clearances were necessary to tackle crime. Earlier this week, state media said police had rounded up some 10,000 squatters in Harare accused of committing robberies, theft and rape.

During Tuesday's tour, organised by the National Association of Non-Government Organisations, victims said they were still stranded on the ruins of their old houses awaiting relocation.

Zimunya said efforts to assist victims were being largely thwarted by the government, which accuses NGO's of working to further the political agenda of the main opposition party.

"The entire thing has been politicised. In recent weeks there has been a massive interrogation of various civil society leaders (on charges of) trying to mobilise victims of (the slum clearances) to do a regime change," Zimunya said.

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