An in-depth Study on the impacts of Operation Murambatsvina 3.3.2 Bulawayo Bulawayo is the second largest city in located in the south western part of Zimbabwe. Bulawayo has an estimated population of 676,787 people. Until recently Bulawayo had a thriving industrial sector however, due to perennial water shortages and the general decline in the economy, Bulawayo’s industrial base has been severely compromised. Bulawayo has 29 administrative wards and of these 19 are high density suburbs. The incumbent mayor for Bulawayo is from MDC. 3.3.3 Mutare Mutare is located in the Eastern highlands of Zimbabwe, a scenic tourism area, and shares the border with Mozambique. It is the third largest city in Zimbabwe, after Harare and Bulawayo, with a population of 170,106 in its 18 wards, of which 12 wards are high density suburbs. Currently, the city council is headed a government appointed commission. The elected MDC mayor was relieved of his job after accusations of mismanagement by the line ministry. However, speculation is rife that this is in retaliation after the mayor facilitated the UN Special Envoy’s visit around Mutare after the commencement of her fact finding mission. 3.4 Instruments 3.4.1 Self-Reporting Questionnaire [SRQ-8] The Self-Reporting Questionnaire [SRQ-8] is a widely-used psychiatric screening instrument, developed in Zimbabwe. It was derived from the Self-Reporting Questionnaire [SRQ-20], developed by the World Health Organization in 1980, and the SRQ-20 has been widely used in Africa as well as in other developing countriesxxxiii. The SRQ-20 was developed in order to provide an instrument for reliably detecting non-psychotic mental disorder, and has been shown to be both valid and reliable in a large number of different African settings, including Zimbabwexxxiv. The SRQ-20 has additionally been used in Zimbabwe in a number of studies of the effects of organized violence and torturexxxv. The SRQ-8 was derived from the SRQ-20, and shown in a Zimbabwean study to be both reliable and validxxxvi. It is a simple 8 item questionnaire, investigating 8 common symptoms in the past week. All scores in excess of 4 can be taken as indicating significant psychological disorder. 3.4.2 Trauma Questionnaire The Trauma Questionnaire was based on the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire [Vietnamese Version] that had been modified for use in previous Zimbabwean studiesxxxvii. The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire has been widely used in a variety of different settings, and a number of versions have been developed for specific settingsxxxviii. The Zimbabwean questionnaire was modified by the addition of several items that were designed to capture some aspects of Operation Murambatsvina that were not in the original Zimbabwean version. These items related to confiscation or destruction of property, sexual abuse other than rape, and feelings of dependency on others. This gave a 23 item questionnaire. 13

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