Clearing away the Trash" - Victoria Falls

Vic Falls burns

Operation Murambatsvina" ("Clearing away the trash") reached Victoria Falls on May 30. There were three phases to the operation. The first was carried out by the C.I.O. or secret police operatives, who moved quickly through the informal traders in the market and elsewhere and then through those living in the wooden dwellings (called "Baghdads"), warning them to move their belongings immediately or they would be destroyed. Close on their heels there followed the riot police, dubbed "a pack of vicious dogs" by Victoria Falls residents, executing phases 2 and 3, which essentially saw the total destruction of all these structures. Many of the informal traders it should be noted selling vegetables, shoes and clothes, were operating with legal permits and in places allocated to them by the local Council. In the same way most of the residents of the "Baghdad" dwellings were lawful tenants of the Council, holding legal documents to confirm their title and having paid rent to the Council for many years. The reason given by Mugabe's uniformed thugs for their barbaric actions, namely that they were removing illegal structures was a blatant lie. Moreover so far as any of the structures did not comply with building or planning regulations it was of course the local authority, the Council, which was empowered under section 199 of the Urban Councils Act to take corrective action (after due legal process). The police had no legal right whatsoever to take the action they did. Their conduct was not only inhumane and barbaric, it was also plainly illegal.

After sweeping through the high density suburb of Chinotimba the police moved into the low density township, where they continued their wanton destruction of Baghdads - again notwithstanding that most of the structures were in good repair and had provided essential accommodation to workers and their families. They seem to relish the task, though when they got tired of demolishing the structures they handed the sledgehammers to the owners and ordered them to destroy their own houses. Once the wooden houses had been knocked down the so-called agents of law and order had them torched, and when the flames subsided they ordered the residents to sweep up the mess. Intercepting one old man, who had piled a few timbers salvaged from his house into a trolley and was desperately trying to escape attention, the police upturned the trolley and set the contents ablaze. There are unconfirmed reports that one resident who resisted the destruction of his house was beaten to death.

A resident of Victoria Falls who lives some 3 kilometres from Chinotimba described how, for two days after attack, the evening sky over the high density area was a lit up with bright red glow from the burning of the houses and there was a pungent smell of burning in the air.

It is understood that between 3 and 4 thousand dwellings were thus destroyed in one clean sweep through the town and up to 60,000 people rendered homeless. One local employer alone who had provided his workforce of 140 with adequate housing, approved with a valid permit from the Council, saw the whole lot razed to the ground. So great was the anger felt by the residents at this gross violation of their human rights, that one middle-aged woman to whom our reporter spoke described the atmosphere as "electric". Armed police patrolled through the almost deserted streets of the town.

Having thus destroyed a swathe of housing, Mugabe's uniformed thugs then turned their unwelcome attention to the business community in the town. Dressed in full combat gear and brandishing their rifles, they walked into business premises at will and insisted on carrying out immediate searches. Needless to say they had obtained no search warrants or court orders. The pretext given for their illegal entry and search operation was that they were looking for forex. Where safari operators were concerned they took it upon themselves to down-load information from the computers, as they said, "to investigate any illegal currency dealing or use of FCA accounts." It appears that none dared to challenge this outrageous behaviour. As one rather shocked businessman observed dryly later, "What do you say to a thug holding a gun to your head? You say, 'yes sir'".

Nor was the low density housing area spared either. Apart from instantly destroying any structures that they considered illegal, the police carried out random searches of houses. Where they found more than one television set or deep freeze in a house for example, they would demand to see an invoice or receipt for the additional items, and if the householder was unable to produce the documentation requested on the spot, they would confiscate the items concerned. Nothing further has been heard of the confiscated goods. Political commentators have speculated that the property looted by the police in this and other centres across the country is intended to reward them for their part in Operation Murambatsvina - in other words, an extension of Robert Mugabe's corrupt system of patronage.

A week after the initial sweep through Chinotimba the police returned, effectively to terrorize those residents who still remained there, now sleeping in the open. Several hundred former residents had sold their few possessions to raise enough money for the bus fares back to the rural areas, but many more remained, hoping desperately to find some alternative accommodation and in the meantime sleeping under the stars where their homes had once been. Nor were their prospects of obtaining other accommodation good. Using the law of supply and demand to their own benefit some residents fortunate enough to still have their own houses intact, were charging as much as $ 700,000 monthly rent for a single room.

So closes another chapter in the saga of misery that the dictator and those loyal to him, are inflicting upon the suffering nation. And when, we ask, will the too-long suffering people of Zimbabwe say "Enough is Enough"?