Operation Murambatsvina style evictions continue at Porta Extension

By Violet Gonda
03 October 2006

Despite assertions by the Zimbabwean government that there would be no more evictions of people from their homes, residents were being sent packing on Monday at Porta Extension just outside Harare. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights reports that 32 households were served with 24-hour eviction notices by the Kuwadzana District Office.

An unidentified female official at the council offices told the ZLHR the evictions are a continuation of Operation Murambatsvina. She further confirmed that properties of the affected families will be demolished. But the rights group filed an urgent application in the Magistrates' Court in Harare Tuesday in an effort to stop the impending evictions. The Porta residents were not supplied with eviction orders or provided with suitable alternatives by the state.

ZLHR said in a statement; “ It is as yet unclear what the reasons, legal or otherwise, for the evictions are. The notices are un-procedural, are not even presented on official letterheads of the City of Harare and are signed by an unidentified official.”

Irene Petras the acting Director of the rights group told SW RADIO AFRICA; “we understand that there were some other families who they wanted to resettle in those same properties and they were using the same excuse that some of the tenants who are currently there are living there illegally, which they deny.”

The fresh demolitions are continuing regardless of the fact that the Mugabe regime had said the operation was officially over. At least 700 000 people were made homeless with more than a million affected last year after the government embarked on this so-called clean up exercise that was described as a disastrous venture by the United Nations.

Petras said they had seen a number of cases over the last few weeks where people have been removed from areas where they have been living, including Epworth just outside Harare.

The human rights group said; “With the onset of the rainy season, these families will be denied their right to shelter, exposed to the elements of weather and rendered internally displaced persons.”

Meanwhile, a provisional order was granted against the District Officer (Kuwadzana District Office), the Director of Housing and Community Services, and the City of Harare, which prevents them from evicting the affected families without a court order or from demolishing their properties.