Homeless & Hopeless: Bulldozers Carve out Bleak New Reality for Poor Zimbabweans

Immediately across the road from the giant prehistoric Balancing Rocks near Harare, etched onto banknotes, is a new symbol of the nation, one that is unlikely to feature in any guidebook or on the notes of the collapsing Zimbabwean dollar.

It consists of piles of rubble, corrugated iron and random belongings – a basin, a single shoe, a coathanger – like the detritus left in the wake of an earthquake or a storm. This was home to hundreds of people in the suburb of Epworth until President Robert Mugabe announced last month that Operation Murambatsvina (Clear Out the Trash) was under way.

The giant prehistoric Balancing Rocks that stand 10 miles from the centre of Harare are one of the great symbols of Zimbabwe, etched on to banknotes and pictured in every tourist guide.

Immediately across the road from the rocks is a new symbol of the nation, one that is unlikely to feature in any guidebook or on the notes of the collapsing Zimbabwean dollar.

It consists of piles of rubble, corrugated iron and random belongings – a basin, a single shoe, a coathanger – like the detritus left in the wake of an earthquake or a storm. This was home to hundreds of people in the suburb of Epworth until President Robert Mugabe announced last month that Operation Murambatsvina (Clear Out the Trash) was under way. He authorised the destruction of the homes of hundreds of thousands of people across the country as a way of removing what the police commissioner, Augustine Chihuri, described as “this crawling mass of maggots” who had settled into makeshift townships on the fringes of cities. So far at least seven people have died in the clear-out, there have been six suicides reported and 22,000 people have been arrested or had their property confiscated.

“They stood there with…

Posted by Ryz
Born and raised in The Netherlands and living in Canada since 2000. Spent most of his professional career in the IT industry for corporations. Now self-employed. Loves music, graphics, science, politics and various other things that happen to pass in...

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