Zim clean-up: Govt 'must pay'
2005-07-28 23:33
Harare - An international aid agency on Thursday said Zimbabwe should apologise and compensate victims of a controversial demolition drive, which has made hundreds of thousands homeless and destitute and drawn global condemnation.
Action Aid International said: "The government must make a public apology and fully compensate those who lost lives, property, savings and belongings that they had legitimately earned over many years.
"They must also bring to account the culprits among the police force who looted goods and property from helpless victims of the operation."
Zimbabwean authorities launched the two-pronged Operation Murambatsvina (Drive out filth/'Operation Restore Order') mid-May, razing shacks, market stalls and even chicken coops, which the government said were built without proper authorisation.
At least two children were crushed to death by falling debris during the demolitions, while other families lost their property after it was burned by the police or broken during removal.
Gross violation of human rights
Director for Action Aid International's Southern Africa Partnership Programme, Caroline Sande, said: "We were shocked by the callousness and tyranny."
"What has happened is a gross violation of human rights. There is no explanation to justify it.
"We work in 23 countries and this is the first time we have had to respond to a crisis created by a state acting against its own people.
The report, which followed interviews with victims of the operation as well as interest groups, estimated that more than 700 000 people lost their homes, sources of livelihood and dignity as a result of the operation.
The report said: "Most affected are women and girls, including households with orphans, chronically-ill people and households headed by the elderly."
The report came just under a week after the United Nations released a damning report that held the Zimbabwean government collectively responsible for the urban renewal operation in which an estimated 700 000 people had lost their homes and a further 2.4 million had been affected.