Post date: Mar 26, 2012 2:24:41 PM
HARARE, ZIMBABWE (MARCH 23, 2012) (REUTERS) -Slum residents and civil rights activists marched through the streets of Zimbabwe's capital Harare on Friday (March 23) to protest forced evictions.
Slum dwellers in Harare stage a march to protest forced evictions and raise awareness of the difficulties people in informal settlements face. The day of action was planned to coincide with similar activities across the continent as part of a campaign by Amnesty International to push governments to do more to end forced evictions.
The march was organised by Amnesty International as part of a continent-wide 'day of action' on slum housing and rights for people living in informal settlements."There are thousands of people living in deplorable conditions without water, without sanitation, without health services, without schools," said Cousins Zilala, Amnesty International Zimbabwe executive director said.
The aim of the campaign was to put pressure on African governments to adopt stricter legislation offering better protection to residents in poor communities who Amnesty says are nearly always the target of forced evictions.
Amnesty says evictions often happen overnight with no prior warning, destroying homes and businesses.
"We are calling for an end to forced evictions, we are also calling for an increased security of tenure for people living in slums," said Wongai Chikwanda, a protester.
Zimbabwe is the sight of what is widely seen as one of the worst slum clearance campaigns in African history.
In 2005 the government made 700,000 people homeless overnight in what came to be known as 'Operation Murambatsvina'.
Loosely translated as "drive out dirt", the campaign targeted poor urban dwellers and informal traders it said were living in unacceptable squalor.
While the government re-housed some of the victims in new purpose built settlements, they lacked decent water, power and hygiene facilities meaning the conditions were often worse than they had been in the old slum.
Subsequent research by rights groups and humanitarian assistance programmes found thousands of children were out of school in the new settlements with some as young as 13 forced to go out and look for work with their parents as a result of the evictions.
As part of the campaign to end forced evictions in Africa, Amnesty held a news conference in Kenya's capital Nairobi to coincide with a meeting of housing ministers from across the continent who had gathered to discuss urban planning with Kenya's president Mwai Kibaki.
Campaigners, including victims of slum clearance in Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Nigeria came together to discuss ways to apply more pressure on governments to recognise their rights.
Among them was Moreblessing Gwavuyu, a Zimbabwean who has lived through several evictions in his neighbourhood. He said the problem is not just losing a roof over your head; it's also a matter of self-esteem and civic pride.
"I used to be a very confident young man and I was optimistic that in life I was going to achieve this and that but now I'm kind of disillusioned by the situation. You know I have experienced forced eviction ever since 1992 when I was just a little kid."
Gwavuyu travelled to Kenya to try and track down Zimbabwe's housing minister Giles Mutsekwa and challenge him to engage with slum residents about their rights.
But when he got here, Gwavuyu said the minister was less than pleased to see him.
"The minister kept on asking me what did you come here for? We could meet more frequently at home than for you to wait for me to come here. Why do you want to discuss Zimbabwean issues in Kenyan land. So I felt very embarrassed, I felt very unwelcome by this statement," Gwavuyu said.
Mutsekwa did however promise Gwavuyu to take up the issue when he returned home saying his door was 'always open' to Gwavuyu and other activists who want to discuss the matter.
Gwavuyu said he would hold the minister to his words especially with the country's looming presidential election.
Amnesty held simultaneous activities in Nigeria, Ghana and Mali. While visiting housing ministers in Nairobi declined the invitation to take part in Amnesty's action day, several agreed to hold individual meetings with activists from their region to try and deal with some of the issues Amnesty raised.