Murambatsvina - Five Years On

Five years ago this week, during the winter months in Zimbabwe, Operation Murambatsvina was launched. The official line was that illegal dwellings in the country needed to be destroyed and formal, proper housing was to be offered to those involved.

What really transpired was an orgy of destruction and a huge number of Zimbabweans found themselves without a home, and, because they no longer had a residential address, some lost their jobs.

murambatsvina burning property LjcJ5 16744

The operation ranged from just wanton destruction to people being crushed to death by falling walls…

Many people were dumped at Hopley Farm where they were left to fend for themselves, living under crude plastic sheeting and holes in the ground. Five years on, they still remain inadequately sheltered, abandoned to live by their wits alone.

Operation Garakai was supposed to follow, providing adequate housing and shelter to the homeless, but the few houses that were built were not only substandard, but were handed over to ZANU PF people for habitation. Many of the houses (and there were not that many in total) so handed over, were subsequently abandoned because they lacked adequate ablutions, no electricity and were just plainly uninhabitable.

Five years later, the struggle to survive continues...

"The government of Zimbabwe must take action to protect hundreds of thousands of people left to survive in substandard settlements five years after a program of mass forced evictions, Amnesty International Zimbabwe and a coalition of partners said on Tuesday.

Amnesty International and the Coalition Against Forced Evictions are calling on the government to provide adequate alternative accommodation or compensation to those left homeless and jobless.

"It is a scandal that five years on, victims are left to survive in plastic shacks without basic essential services. The needs of these victims are at risk of being forgotten because their voices are consistently ignored,” said Amnesty International Zimbabwe’s director Cousin Zilala.

On 18 May 2005 the government of Zimbabwe began demolishing informal settlements across the country. The program, known as Operation Murambatsvina, affected more than 700,000 people - leaving them without a home or livelihood or both. Most were driven deeper into poverty by the forced evictions, a situation which has been further compounded by Zimbabwe’s economic crisis.

Following widespread local and international condemnation of Operation Murambatsvina, the government embarked on a re-housing programme, known as Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle later in 2005, which aimed to provide shelter for the victims and improve their living conditions. However, it was a dismal failure and now appears to have been abandoned.

"The few houses that were built under the Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle scheme are completely uninhabitable," said Cousin Zilala. "They have no floors, windows, water or toilets. Communities living in designated resettlement areas are dependent on humanitarian assistance and self help initiatives for their survival."

Mugabe couldn't care less about the problems that common people have - even if those problems are caused by his mismanagement of national affair - just as long as the people are too busy trying to live their pathetic lives without hassling him, he is happy.

He claims to be a benevolent leader, but, in reality, is a vicious and self-centred egoist who only cares about himself, his family and his violent and oppressive party, ZANU PF.

Robb WJ Ellis

The Bearded Man