By Tererai Karimakwenda
07 July 2005-07-07

In order to stop the relatives of people who died at Porta Farm from telling their stories to UN Envoy Anna Tibaijuka, the government forced them to move to another location. This deception was uncovered by our Harare correspondent Simon Muchemwa, who spoke to the relatives to confirm the deaths which government is saying never happened.

Tibaijuka re-visited Porta Farm on Wednesday before heading to Bulawayo. But the families of Fanandi Manyere and Loise Mandigora had been moved to a place called Tiger Village outside Norton.

Muchemwa says he spoke to Loise Mandigora's 18-year old daughter Rebecca, who said her mother died on Thursday last week after sleeping in the winter cold for 3 days. She had been sickly in general, but the cold worsened her condition. Rebecca buried her mother in Norton under pressure from the police. She is now responsible for her 15-year old sister and a brother who is 9.

Muchemwa also confirmed the death of 5-year old Fanandi, who was hit by a car last Tuesday as he tried to escape from the police raids at Porta Farm. His father Jonisiah said Fanandi ran across the Harare-Bulawayo road as chaos reigned all around him. He too was buried in Norton after police pressure.

The total number of deaths at Porta Farm may never be known as the government has a tendency to deny responsibility for any such tragedies. We do know however, that Loise Mandigora and Fanandi Manyere lost their lives to the senseless "Operation Murambatsvina". The only dirty thing that needs to be cleaned in this case is the lie that police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka wants the world to believe. And that is that nobody died.