By Violet Gonda
30 June 2005

Robert Mugabe's "operation murambatsvina" claimed 4 more lives Thursday afternoon. It's reported that 2 women, one of them pregnant, died after falling from police/army trucks while 2 young children - 2 and 4 years respectively - were run over. Mike Davies, chairman of the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) said that riot police used brutal force to evict the residents. Several people were taken to Norton Clinic for treatment.

Mike Davies believes that the people who are being removed from Porta Farm are being taken to Caledonian Farm.

These brutal actions are being perpetrated against Zimbabweans right under the nose of the UN Special Envoy. But the fact finding mission is seeing the effects of the crackdown for themselves.

The UN's special envoy, Anna Tibaijuka, met a delegation of about 80 civic organisation from 9:30 to 12 noon Thursday. Presentations were made by the Zimbabwe lawyers for Human Rights, National Association of Non Governmental Organisations and CHRA, among many others.
About 20 presentations were made including those from people directly involved, some from Porta Farm and victims from as far as Nyamhunga village in Kariba.

Mike Davies told us that the envoy was deeply moved by the presentations and that there were scenes of great emotion during the meeting. He said people were confident that the UN will come out with a strong statement condemning these actions in the next few days.

The UN envoy is reported to have gone to Porta Farm Thursday afternoon to verify the reports of the deaths herself.

Full audio report with Mike Davies can be heard in Newsreel archives (30/06/05) on www.swradioafrica.com