of the ZRP led to the death of two people, during a government backed operation to outlaw commuter omnibus operators and informal traders from operating in Harare’s CBD. Housing, Land and Evictions Section 74 of the Constitution guarantees freedom from arbitrary eviction. This freedom includes people’s freedom from eviction from their homes or have their homes demolished without an order of Court after the Court has taken consideration of all the relevant circumstances of that matter. Recently in City of Harare v Mukungurutse SC 46-18 the Supreme Court reiterated this position. Notwithstanding this legal position, Zimbabweans experienced threats to this right, including from government departments and/or individuals affiliated to government or to people in government. The government established the Zimbabwe Land Commission in 2015 as a mechanism for dispossessed farmers to claim compensation for seized lands. In January the government announced it would grant white farmers 99-year leases on their remaining land, but the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) reported that none of its members had received a 99-year leases, citing in part a cumbersome application process set by the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement. Education See Chapter on Children Humanitarian and Food Assistance Due to economic crisis compounded with erratic rainfall, severe food insecurity escalated and according to the UN Office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, nearly 3.5 million people in Zimbabwe were estimated to be in urgent need for humanitarian assistance. Of that figure over 3,8 million were rural based and most of them women. According to a Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) some families were forced to adopt feeding timetables due to economic challenges, raising fears of acute malnutrition. Specific Cases Ÿ Police in Rusape were taken to court for allegedly destroying 77 farm workers’ property during a forced eviction at Lesbury Farm in June 2017 to pave way for the new farm owner, government-affiliated Bishop Trevor Manhanga. The workers also filed for compensation. 13 Police officers had besieged Lesbury Farm, popularly known as KwaSmart, and violently evicted the farm owner, Robert Smart, his family and workers to pave way for Bishop Manhanga, who was being rewarded for “praying for the former First Family”. Ÿ In December, 46 families and 136 children petitioned the High Court seeking restoration of occupation of land at Nharira Hills located at Somerby just outside Harare from which they were forcibly evicted. The land is at a sacred heritage site. The people were left homeless after members of the ZRP forcibly carried out the evictions on 14 December without a court order. HFM Marketing, a quarry mining company that was claiming the land had engineered the evictions using the ZRP. Ÿ On 7 November almost 300 people including children and women in Chimanimani were saved by the High Court from eviction after the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZimParks) sought to evict them. The Vhimba people in Risitu, Chimanimani under Chief Ngorima in Chikware and Mapombere villages who had been issued with a 72 hours eviction notice by ZimParks, and the court ruled that such eviction would amount to unlawful and arbitrary evictions on the 27 families. 13. “77 farm workers sue police over vandalised property, torture”, Newsday, 7 February 2018. 24 STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT ZIMBABWE 2018