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Operation Murambatsvina - Countrywide evictions of urban poor - Index of articles
ZIMBABWE: Govt launches another clean-up operation
IRIN
News
June 16, 2006
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=53995
HARARE - As
winter sets in, the Zimbabwean government has launched another operation
to purge the capital, Harare, of "illegal" homes and market stalls
in an effort to "clean" the city.
The demolitions began at the crack of dawn on Thursday, when truckloads
of municipal police raided the high-density suburb of Glen Norah
in Harare and brought down "illegal" structures with crowbars and
set them alight. More than 400 people were affected, including school
children.
Last winter the government launched 'Operation
Murambatsvina' (Drive out Filth) in cities and towns across
the country. The campaign to demolish informal settlements left
over 700,000 people homeless or without a source of income and was
met with widespread condemnation from human rights bodies, including
the UN.
Martha Manda, a widow with two children, was inconsolable as she
watched her house go up in flames on Thursday. "I have nowhere to
go now. My grandparents came from Malawi and settled in this country
as migrant labourers. As a result, I cannot go back to Malawi because
I don't know anybody there."
Authorities said the people being weeded out of urban areas should
return to their rural villages of origin, but although many have
done so, the descendants of migrant workers from Mozambique, Malawi
and Zambia have been left in a quandary.
The mayor of Harare, Sekesai Makwavarara, informed residents of
the new operation, saying: "as residents you should support the
council and government when they embark on the clean-up exercise".
Two weeks ago the government launched what it called 'Operation
Round-up', in which street children and homeless people were picked
up and dumped at a farm outside Harare.
Precious Shumba, a spokesman for the Combined
Harare Residents Association, said they were trying to help
those who had been affected. "We are trying to get aid for the people,
like food and blankets, especially because this unfortunate exercise
has again been launched in the middle of winter."
Humanitarian bodies have condemned the latest demolitions. Crisis
Coalition, a grouping of NGOs, said, "We have to unite to defend
our rights, which are not privileged gifts parcelled out by generous
politicians but [are] inalienable because we are human and legitimate
citizens of this country. No one, regardless of their political,
economic and social standing, should be given the right to dump
the lives of the citizens of this country into misery."
Gabriel Chaibva, spokesman for the pro-senate faction of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change, also condemned the destruction.
"Harare officials have demonstrated their insensitivity to the plight
of the poor - the demolitions have been carried out with brutal
force and in cold winter season, when it is clear that the victims
of the demolitions, especially the elderly and children, are likely
to be exposed to the vagaries of cold weather."
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