before demolishing the only shelter that people had. It is totally insensitive to render people homeless and then promise to give them decent accommodation at some indefinite time in the future. Finally, there is considerable scepticism as to whether the huge sums of money will be found to build all the houses necessary to replace the destroyed dwellings of people. With an estimated domestic debt of Z$12 trillion, and this debt rising a the rate of, conservatively, Z$1 trillion a month , it is extremely unlikely that the Zimbabwe government will be able to finance re-building on the scale that they claim is needed, never mind the scale that is estimated to be the actual need in the wake of Operation Murambatsvina. In any event, the whole idea of embarking upon such an expensive venture at a point in time when the economy is in dire straits is highly questionable. By comparison with many other countries, the size of the problem of urban slums in Zimbabwe was relatively small and certainly did not justify the brutal Operation Murambatsvinacampaign. 31 32 Context of Operation The designation of the campaign as ―Operation Murambatsvina‖ is very revealing. Firstly, the use of the term ―operation‖ is apposite, given the fact that the campaign was carried out in military fashion. The police were armed with firearms and riot-control equipment. They used heavyhanded tactics, on occasion using teargas, assaulting, threatening to assault people, or threatening to use police dogs against them. ―Murambatsvina‖ means to clean up or sweep away dirt or filth, but it was people and their livelihoods that were swept away. The people against whom these brutal tactics were employed were unarmed civilians, amongst whom there were men, women, children, babies, elderly people, and sick people. Far from the people feeling a sense of ―joy‖ because, at some indefinite time in the future, they might be provided with decent accommodation, they were miserable as a result of being rendered homeless and jobless. 33 As the UN Special Envoy comments at p.31, ―Politically, the Operation has exacerbated an already tense and polarized climate characterized by mistrust and fear.‖ Whilst this is entirely correct, it needs to emphasised that Operation Murambatsvina is not an isolated event when viewed in the context of the events that have occurred in Zimbabwe since 1980. This is by no means the first time that large-scale military style campaigns have taken place. There have been a series of Murambatsvina-like events in the past. Since it came to power in 1980, the ruling party has been in an almost perpetual revolutionary mode, and has been constantly ―at war‖ with one sector of the Zimbabwean community or another. Targets have included the people of Matebeland, political opponents, the intelligentsia, the independent press, white farmers, farm workers, and the urban poor. It has embarked on many radical actions with little consideration as to the drastic adverse consequences of these actions. These actions have resulted in many human rights abuses and great suffering. In the