An in-depth Study on the impacts of Operation Murambatsvina Morbidity due to the Gukurahundi has also received some attention. One small study in Gwanda District indicated that 5 adults in 10, over the age of 18 years, were suffering from significant psychological disorders, with over 90% of the sample reporting an experience with organized violence and torturexxiii. The majority of these experiences dated from the 1980s rather than the Liberation War. There is no reliable estimate of the morbidity due to the violence occasioned by the Food Riots in 1998. At the time the Zimbabwe Republic Police estimated that over 3,000 persons had been arrested, and the Human Rights NGO Forum was able to obtain data on 1,431 cases of persons who had been arrested. Only 44 persons eventually elected to report to the Forum, but 36% were diagnosed as having clinically significant psychological disorders. It is clearly inappropriate to extrapolate from such a small sample, but it is probable that the numbers affected were significantxxiv. Finally, there has been an epidemic of organized violence and torture since February 2000, and this is attested to by a vast outpouring of reports since that time. Very few studies have been done on the victims, and certainly no proper epidemiological studies. There are two indicative studies, however. The first, examining internally-displaced commercial farm workers, demonstrated that 85% of the sample were suffering clinically significant psychological disordersxxv, whilst the second, a “snap survey” of Zimbabwean refugees in Johannesburg, Gauteng, indicated a point prevalence rate of 14% in the samplexxvi. These latter two studies are important for the purposes of understanding the effects of Operation Murambatsvina since they examine populations of displaced persons. Estimates of psychological disorders due to trauma are understandably much higher amongst refugees or internally displaced persons than they are in the general population, as they are in specific populations such as those living in complex emergencies such as civil wars, or low intensity conflicts. Estimates for the rates of psychological disorder are available for all such groups in Zimbabwe, as well as for the rates of psychological disorder in the general population. As the studies demonstrate, the prevalence rates vary widely according to the population sampled. In studies of persons attending primary care facilities, estimates of morbidity are generally in the range of 20-30% of the total clinic populationxxvii. These were figures taken during the late 1980s and the 1990s, and provide a base rate for the prevalence of psychological disorder in times of “peace” and relative economic stability. Studies of the victims of organized violence and torture also vary, as we have described above, depending on the scale of the violence. Clearly, studies of populations of victims – war veterans, Mozambican refugees, or displaced commercial farm workers – show much higher rates. So which profile will fit the victims of Operation Murambatsvina? And here we must remember our earlier comments in respect of trauma generally: that the probability of displaying a significant psychological disorder will vary according to the type of trauma and the number of exposures to trauma. 7

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