ActionAid International Southern Africa Partnership Programme (SAPP-Zimbabwe)
Perceived assistance required
The table below clearly demonstrates the areas that when cited by respondents.
Proportion of assistance required
Area of need
Proportion (%)
Shelter
68%
Food
76%
Compensation
54%
Relocation
45%
Education
54%
Legal help
39%
Monetary (financial help)
72%
Psycho-social support
36%
Sixty eight (68%) of
surveyed
homesteads
require shelter, 75% require
food and a further 72%
require money (adjacent
Table).
Education
for
children and psycho-social
counselling had 54% and
36%, respectively. A few
(45%) required to be
assisted in relocation, whilst
slightly over half of the interviewed homesteads required compensation for lost property.
Conclusion
The foregoing sections clearly demonstrate the overall negative effect of Operation
Murambatsvina has had on residents of the six areas surveyed, mainly in the high density
suburbs. The destruction of accommodation has resulted in both increased pressure on
houses that exist as well as the disintegration of families. The disruptive nature of the
Operation has resulted in a large number of children missing school. Furthermore,
rentals have also increased substantially in the last 3 months. Informal livelihoods were
the main source of income for the majority of respondents. The actions taken by the
GoZ towards the destruction of the informal sector so as to legitimise it, has crippled
many households. This has resulted in many households claiming that they had become
food insecure, have limited income, lost shelter, property, increased vulnerability to
women and children, deterioration of health, orphans and women, physical safety of the
household being compromised.
On HIV/AIDS, prevention efforts have been compromised by the destruction of tuckshops and other informal sales points, which were a major sales and access point for
condoms. The VCT component has also been highly compromised as people are not
likely to opt for testing and counselling while they are displaced and desperate for
humanitarian assistance. It can be argued that access to prevention information has also
been diminished as the information focal points (work places, residential clusters) have
been destroyed.
Comprehensive treatment and quality care have also been compromised and this is
characterised by disruption of ongoing treatment and in most cases the complete
cessation of drug compliance due to lack of access and or proximity to the dispensing
outlets.
Assistance being received by affected communities remains sub-optimal and at times
inappropriate to say the least. Social and safety networks have been exhausted and
require urgent complementation. Areas of need have been identified by the communities
and the most vulnerable by sectors have also been discussed.
Zimbabwe Operation Murambatsvina/Restore Order National Survey Report
viii