Operation Garikai criticised as Mugabe lip service

By Tererai Karimakwenda
25 November 2005

Robert Mugabe was in Bulawayo on Thursday. According to The Herald, he warned the Bulawayo City Council of stern action if it continues to frustrate operation Hlalani/Garikai, the construction project meant to provide housing for the families displaced by his other operation, the so-called cleanup exercise operation Murambatsvina. Government officials have been portraying operation Garikai as a success, but Zimbabweans on the ground say very little has been done. The money just isn’t there.

Archbishop Pius Ncube told us Garikai is a joke, just lip service. He said the few houses built so far are tiny structures meant for government forces and not families. The archbishop also told us that pastors who had been looking for families which were dumped outside Bulawayo by the government a month ago had found them 130 kilometres away. They had been left in the middle of nowhere with no shelter and no water.

Putting them out of sight has been government’s solution to the housing crisis it created, and an admission that Garikai has failed to provide accommodation for the displaced. In the end, Archbishop Ncube said this is why people will not come out to vote. And the Crisis Coalition survey certainly shows he is correct. The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) has also predicted a low voter turn-out.