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Remember the Victims of Murambatsvina
When the Murambatsvina operation was mounted by the government of
Zimbabwe
in 2005 it was directed at those who occupied illegal dwellings in
urban
areas and who operated informal businesses to support themselves and
their
families. According to the United Nations subsequent report on this
operation 700 000 people were rendered homeless and some 2,4 million
were
affected in some way by the exercise over a period of three months.
In Bulawayo, one of the target areas was the squatter camp at Killarney
just
to the south of the City near the Old Nick Mine. This area was home to
some
2000 people who had built small mud and grass homes and drew water from
nearby urban settlements. The area was adjacent to low-density housing
and
many found work there or traveled into town to work in the informal
sector.
Whitestone Church together with other local Churches adopted this
settlement
and operated a small Church there for the people. The Church supplied
periodic humanitarian aid of different kinds (blankets, food and
clothes) to
the community. A pastor was employed to care for their needs together
with
other informal settlements around the City.
When the army and police moved in to destroy these homes, the Churches
rallied their members and a modern form of the Dunkirk evacuations took
place with people arriving in horse boxes, cars and trailers as well as
small trucks and even a 7 tonne truck to move the assets of the people
to
three church halls in the City until such time as something could be
done
for them. In the end 217 families were moved, others choosing to stay
with
relatives elsewhere, and this constituted about 1500 men, women and
children.
They were accommodated at three Churches - the Methodist and Anglican
Churches in Hillside and the Presbyterian Church in the City centre.
Conditions were crowded but adequate and the Churches helped with
blankets
and food. The children were introduced to a short-term programme of
activity
and education.
After three days, in the early hours of the morning, military trucks
arrived
at all the Churches accompanied by armed soldiers and police. The
people
were loaded onto the trucks and taken out into the rural areas. No
attempt
was made to try and find out where they would like to go, they were
simply
dumped in the rural areas - in many cases up to 200 kilometers from
Killarney. They were simply left on the side of the road to try and
find
their way into the local community for help.
The church responded by trying to locate all the people involved and to
continue assistance as best they could. The Pastors eventually found
the
majority and resumed care and supplies of essential needs. This
continues
through to today although at a much lower level. The principal player
in
this operation was Pastor Albert Chitindo and he has maintained a
record of
this operation from its inception.
According to Albert, the Pastors involved have conducted burials at the
rate
of 2 to 3 a week amongst this displaced community since their eviction
from
their homes. Many returned to Killarney to try and rebuild their lives
but
have been displaced and their homes destroyed for a second time. In
other
urban centers this process continues - last week 28 homes were burnt
and
their contents destroyed by Police in the Kwe Kwe area for instance.
By our rough count half the community displaced from Killarney has died
since 2005. The main reasons have been malnutrition, starvation,
exposure
(the 2005 and 2006 winters were especially cold) and diseases. The main
casualties have been the children and men. The latter succumbing to
hopelessness and despair when they were unable in any way to either
protect
or provide for their families.
The actual numbers of people displaced by Murambatsvina may in fact
have
been significantly higher than the UN estimated. Those estimates were
based
on official figures given to the UN team by the State. In one small
centre -
Beitbridge the total numbers of displaced were estimated at 22 000 out
of an
official numbers in the town of 50 000 - over 40 per cent. However
the
housing situation in Beitbridge was particularly poor and informal
settlements extensive. 70 per cent of the displaced population remains
homeless in Beitbridge.
In Harare the numbers affected by the operation were very substantial
as the
destruction of informal and even some formal housing was widespread and
involved hundreds of thousands of homes in areas such as Mbare township
-
the most densely populated urban settlement in the country.
Despite promises, the provision of housing for these displaced people
has
stopped completely. A major housing scheme at Cowdrey Park outside
Bulawayo
has several hundred half finished dwellings - many of which are
occupied
illegally by squatters and many are only partially complete. There are
no
services to these 'Garikai' homes. The same situation applies to
all other
urban centers including the major Cities.
The objective of the Murambatsvina exercise was not to control illegal
settlement but in fact to reduce the urban population. The regime in
Harare
had discovered in the 2005 elections that the urban areas now held a
majority of the people in the country for the first time and were
concerned
that these populations could not be controlled for political reasons in
the
same way as in the rural areas. In particular they were concerned about
the
informal sector businesspersons who are the basic strength of the MDC.
Through this exercise the regime sought to drive out of the urban areas
as
many as a million people. They did not care where they went to or what
happened to them so long as they left the urban areas. If they died or
fled
to South Africa or remained in the rural areas under the jurisdiction
of the
traditional leaders, they would be neutralized politically. That was
the
real aim.
How many have died as a direct result? Hundreds of thousands! My own
heart
goes out to all those Dads and even Grand dads who have died of a
broken
heart and despair let alone all those little brown children who died of
exposure and hunger. For me, this is another form of genocide,
especially as
it was totally unnecessary.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 17th October 2007
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