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Report on the Operation Garikayi/Hlalani Kuhle national audit
Edmore Mufema, National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO)
August 23, 2007

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Chapter 1: Executive Summary

In 2005, Zimbabweans celebrated its Silver Jubilee of Independence with the launch of Operation Murambatsvina (clean up): characterized by indiscriminate destruction of informal shelters, settlements and business units in the name of cleaning up urban areas. Up to 700,000 poor and most vulnerable families lost their homes, sources of livelihood or both. Operation Garikai / Hlalani Kuhle (stay well) was conceived as a successor programme to deliver low-cost and decent housing, adequate vending and factories as well as small and medium business units for the poor and vulnerable, in particular addressing the needs of the victims of Operation Murambatsvina.

Both operations were carried out in heavy top-down approaches by members of armed forces, secret agencies without any input from concerned people and civil society. When a member of the research team of this project introduced the national audit project to the Secretariat of Operation Garikai, the latter replied that the Secretariat is not accountable to the civil society but to The Exchequer who provides funding for the project.
The Secretariat appears ignorant of the obvious and simple fact that the Exchequer administers public funds. And that in a heath democracy the exchequer is accountable to the public! In Zimbabwe, the lack of transparency and accountability is one of the key issues hampering development and democracy in general and the development of human settlement issues in particular.

The human settlement issues are in a state of crisis in Zimbabwe. Housing is inadequate for the low resourced segments of the society, it is of poor quality.

For the majority of the population, living conditions in cities and rural areas are poor; there is lack of access to adequate and quality services such as water, electricity, sanitation, roads, refuse collection and safety. These conditions have been progressively deteriorating over the last twenty or so years. Operation Murambatsvina exacerbated the situation and brought to the fore problems of poor planning, under-investment and coping with rapid urbanization that Zimbabweans has endured over the last 25 years.

Operation Garikai, the successor to Operation Murambatsvina has not lived up to its expectations. From the onset Operation Garikai had no capacity in terms of conception and resources to adequately handle the magnitude of issues and problems in human settlement exposed by Murambatsvina. At its best Operation Garikai is a poor window dressing exercise yet in reality, it is a total failure. It has brought out key problems of funding and inability to deliver targeted housing and informal business units with the necessary services backup for decent living and livelihood of the low resourced communities.

The Parliamentary Portfolio on Local Government and Housing Reports vindicate the recommendations of the United Nations Special Envoy on Human Settlements Issues in Zimbabwe that the state has no capacity, without engaging the international community, to deliver services to meet the magnitude of human settlement needs in the country.

To date, what Operation Garikai has delivered is shrouded in intelligence secret. There is every reason to be skeptical about the success of the programme because with its battered image, success in anything is celebrated as national glory in Zimbabwe. On the contrary, there is evidence that some victims of Operation Murambatsvina are still holed up in transit camps. These transit camps where people live in tents seem to have assumed the dignity of being permanent settlements. There is also evidence of Operation Murambatsvina living in plastic shacks in slum settlements doted on the outskirts of major urban areas. Also many have relocated to rural areas and are living in poverty stricken conditions. In addition, the few houses built are too small and have no access to water, electricity, sanitation, roads, schools, clinic, and refuse collection. Given the corrupt allocation mechanisms, we cannot ascertain precisely what percentage of the victims has benefited from the few small to medium sized business units constructed in the aftermath of Murambatsvina. Also, given the militaristic nature of the operations there is ample evidence that democratic social accountability is not practiced at all in all processes related to the operations.

Operation Murambatsvina violated the very ideals that the Silver Jubilee of Independence was celebrating: freedom from human indignity and violation, freedom from hunger and poverty, freedom from oppression. Operation Garikai / Hlalani Kuhle has not fulfilled and has no capacity to deliver human settlement needs. The operations failed in terms of participatory development and democracy, social dialogue, transparency and accountability.

This report recommends the following:

• Making housing policy and planning realistic, accountable and sensitive to low income groups irrespective of their political orientation.
• Engagement and consultation of multiple sectors in the human settlement issues development: multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, the World Bank, private financiers, cooperatives and the State in transparent and socially accountable processes.
• Reviving and regulating and regulating the informal sector through participatory policy design and licensing policies and systems that are sensitive to the low income businesses.
• That priority is accorded to victims of Murambatsvina in the allocation of available housing units, vendor marts and factory shells in any new programme. To this effect, we recommend civil society participation in the inter-ministerial task force on operation Garikai.
• Increasing greater cooperation, reciprocity and synergies among civil society to fight for social and economic justice. The civil society takes a more proactive role in advocating for social accountability especially among public office bearers and in public policy. That civil society scales up effort to get international support to provide human settlement issues to the poor and vulnerable.
• Increasing greater dialogue between the State, civil society and international community. To identify windows of opportunity to create dialogue and chart a way out of this malaise. The UN habitat can play a significant role. All players to take seriously the task of dialogue and consensus building on human settlement issues.
• That the international community scale up interventions in human settlement issues from humanitarian effort and move up to medium and longer term efforts. The international community need not go through the government channels but through established local NGOs in the housing sector who are in dire need of resources to support the poor and vulnerable.
• Increasing civil society engagement of rural issues such as rural housing, land policy, land allocation, audit of land usage, agrarian issues, and property rights protection.
• The demilitarization and de-politicization of public service, local authorities and state institutions. The central government must stop interfering in local government operations. For instance, Harare Commission is illegitimate and ZINWA is usurping local authority functions of providing water and sanitation.
• That the government undertakes corrective macro-economic policy and management to revive the economy and reduce poverty, unemployment and other key socio-economic ills.
• This report recommends the implementation of the recommendations of UNSE report.
• To crown it all, this report recommends up scaling civic education on human rights, good governments, social accountability and participatory policy development and implementation. The report advocates a holistic approach to Zimbabwe's multi-constitutional, economic, and social issues of which human settlement is just but one source of grievance.

Chapter 8: Recommendations and conclusions

Increasing greater co-operation, reciprocity and synergies among civil society

Operation Murambatsvina pointed to the greater necessity of building bridges of dialogue and cooperation to fight for social and economic justice.

The report recommends strengthening networking and collaboration among civil society working in humanitarian field and on human rights and governance issues to proactively influence course of national processes.

That civil society takes a more proactive role in advocating for social accountability especially among public office bearers and in public policy.

That civil society scales up effort to get international support to provide human settlement issues to the poor and vulnerable. There exist grassroots NGOs in the country tackling human settlement issues with meager financial and technical resources, efforts must be put to empower and increase capacity of such organizations.

Civil society to engage and advocate rural issues

Increase civil society representation of rural issues and dialogue with the rural people. This is one area where networking can be useful since there are groups that have already established links with rural areas and the rest of the civil society can build on such contracts. The report recommends increasing civil society engagement of rural issues such as rural housing, land policy, land allocation processes, audit of land usage, agrarian issues, and property rights protection.

Social accountability

Operation Murambatsvina and Garikai brought forward the lack of social accountability. Civil society should take the lead in addressing the issues by calling for national civil society conferences on social accountability with a focus on special groups:

• Social accountability within civil society groups
• Social accountability within the private sector
• Social accountability within the public sector starting with a discussion of the role of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe

Civil society to take a more proactive role in social accountability

If history is anything to go by; then we will recall that it is the oppressed that stand to challenge the system and not the masters giving up anything without a fight. The civil society must stand up to be counted.

The civil society must demand a stake in national issues. For example, the recently signed social contract is without much value; it does not genuinely represent the interests of labour and also it is a shame that civil society did not participate in it.

This report urges civic groups to demand space in the formulation of national issues not to be left behind as a spectator. Another area where civil society must demand to be counted is in the Mbeki led mediation between ZANU PF and MDC. Civil groups can continue utilizing existing systems such as courts, the parliament where ever it is possible to lobby and advocate for greater space and greater social accountability. For instance civil groups in the housing and human settlement issues may engage the Parliamentary Portfolio committee on Housing and international communities simultaneously to demand for greater social accountability in the sector.

Redefine the Role of State

The state plays the central role in policy, governance and enforcement of rules. The role of the state in Zimbabwe needs to be refined and redirected towards the common good of the people. First, we recommend the demilitarization and de-politicization of public service, local authorities and state institutions. The central government must stop interfering in local government operations. For instance, Harare Commission is illegitimate and ZINWA is usurping local authority functions of providing water and sanitation.

We recommend that the government undertakes corrective macro-economic policy and management to revive the economy and reduce poverty, unemployment and other key socio-economic ills. We recommend that the state start by stopping the lip service approach of the central bank.

This report recommends the implementation of the recommendations of the UNSE report.

Increasing greater dialogue between the civil society and state

This is definitely one of the gray areas exposed by Operation Murambatsvina and its successor operation Garikai / Hlalani Kuhle. Civil society must continue engaging the State and demanding space in governance issues.

Increasing greater dialogue between the State, civil society and international community. To identify windows of opportunity to create dialogue and chart a way out of the malaise. The UN habitat can play a significant role. The reports recommends building trust among all players for dialogue and consensus building on human settlement issues.

Making housing policy and planning realistic, accountable and sensitive to Low-Income Groups

Operation Murambatsvina followed high standards, 'first world standards' of housing and negatively affected low resourced socio-economic groups e.g. the informal sector.

There is need to making housing policy and planning realistic, accountable and sensitive to low income groups. Engagement and consultation of multiple sectors in the human settlement issues development: multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, the World Bank, private financiers, cooperatives and the State in transparent and socially accountable processes.

Reviving and regulating the informal sector through participatory policy design and licensing policies and systems that are sensitive to the low income businesses

That priority is accorded to victims of Murambatsvina in the allocation of available housing units, vendor marts and factory shells in any new programme. To this effect, we recommend civil society participation in the inter-ministerial task force on operation Garikai.

Civil society to remain civil

This report advocates the policy of engagement and adoption of a live and let live attitudes without necessarily losing sight of the key issues of democratization and governance, humanitarian and environmental issues facing our country. Given the highly polarized environment in which civil society is operating there is great danger of cooptation into party politics, either ZANU PF or MDC. The pitfalls of partisan approaches are that civil society becomes embroiled in partisan issues and this clouds objectivity.

Scale up international support

This report accepts the observation by the UNSE Report that the state has no capacity, without the assistance of international community to address the problems of human settlement issues. Thus, we recommend that the international community scale up interventions in human settlement issues from humanitarian efforts and move up to medium and longer term efforts. The government channels and or through established local NGOs in the housing sector who are in dire need of resources to support the poor and vulnerable.

Governance and democratization issues

To crown it all, this report recommends up scaling civic education on human rights, good governance, social accountability and participatory policy development and implementation. The report advocates a holistic approach to Zimbabwe's multi-faceted problems interfacing political, constitutional, economic, and social issues of which human settlement is just but one source of grievance.

Conclusion

There cannot be a final word on Operation Murambatsvina and Operation Garikai. These issues remain of great concern to humanitarian, governance and democratization advocates. The operations and emerging issues are symptomatic of the larger ills that are facing our country and society. Civil society must keep the fire burning and speak and act for what we believe is right. We can not afford to shut our eyes, ears and mouths to the issues that the operations unleashed and wounds that were opened among the poorest segments of our society.

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