More than 60 journalists in Zimbabwe who were touring areas affected by the government’s controversial Operation Murambatsvina — a slum-clearance programme that left thousands homeless — were on Tuesday denied entry to check on conditions at the Hopley farm settlement for Murambatsvina victims in Harare.
The journalists had earlier toured areas in Chitungwiza, Mbare, Epworth and Kuwadzana where the government has embarked on Operation Garikai, which it claims will provide a better life for those left homeless by Murambatsvina.
On arrival at the Hopley settlement, the journalists were greeted by a security guard at a barricade. All persons entering the area are required to state their reasons for visiting, which the journalists did.
The official in charge at Hopley, Ezekiel Mupande, was then summoned, but said he did not have the power to allow the journalists to complete their tour unless they followed protocol and got permission from his seniors.
However, Mupande went on to say that anyone was free to enter the settlement. ”You are free to enter, but this is an army project, so protocol requires that you get a go-ahead from Kennel Gwanetsa.”
It is a year since the infamous Operation Murambatsvina was launched, and the people at Hopley, who were uprooted from places around Harare — the majority from Porta farm — are yet to enjoy the promised proper housing.
The painful scars are still showing one year down the line. At least 50 very small houses have been constructed at Hopley, yet there are more than 600 families still living in plastic matchbox shacks.
According to Ashton Shumba, who resides at Hopley, he is not certain of his future at the settlement, as the stands where homeless families were made to stay are being claimed by civil servants. ”We were taken from Porta farm last year in July by the social welfare. They told us that they were taking us to a permanent place where better housing was going to be built for us.”
But Shumba said that until now nothing has been done, and he and his family are still living in their tiny shack on a stand that an army officer claims belongs to him. Shumba said army and police officials are claiming most of the stands, and although residents are trying to resist, they do not know for how long they will be able to do so.
”We do not know [until] when it’s going to last because we are not registered, and they are armed and we are not,” he said.
Shumba also complained about the living conditions at Hopley. There are no proper toilets; the few plastic ones are meant to be shared between the men and women, and the men have opted to use the bush and leave the toilets for the women for decency’s sake.
This has resulted in human faeces lying scattered around the farm. ”Our health is now in danger as there so many cases of tuberculosis, stomach problems and skin problems,” said Shumba.
At nearby Hatfield camp, 100 houses have been constructed, but they do not have sewer facilities and water. In Mbare, Harare’s oldest high-density suburb, many families who were renting in backyard cabins have now settled on the spaces in front of their former homes.
The structures in Mbare are similar to everywhere else. One has to kneel down to enter.
According to Minister of Housing Ignatius Chombo, the government has already constructed 7 000 houses across Zimbabwe under Operation Garikai and intends constructing another 15 000 by 2007.
Sadly, it seems the beneficiaries of Garikai are not the victims of Murambatsvina. The Crisis Coalition of Zimbabwe says the government has done nothing up to now, and the United Nations has also not done anything to follow up on UN envoy Anna Tibaijuka’s visit last year, which led to a UN report condemning the evictions.
Civil society and concerned parties on Tuesday embarked on an eight-week commemoration of Murambatsvina as they mourned with those who are now poorer than they were before Murambatsvina.