Zimbabwe: No justice for the victims of forced evictions 17 people, including some of the IDPs. However, according to Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, which acts as legal representative for a number of IDP groups at Hopley, the allocation procedure for both stands and houses fails to reflect the stated aims of Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle: “Stands continue to be given to senior council officials while the victims of the Operation [Murambatsvina] continue to reside in shacks far worse than their homes which were destroyed; completed housing has been even more unavailable for the victims of the Operation.” 51 The situation at Hatcliffe, where thousands of people were forcibly evicted during Operation Murambatsvina despite holding government leases for their stands, was different. Within two months of being evicted the victims were returned to the same stands to live in the rubble of their former homes. At Hatcliffe between 72 and 110 Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle houses have been constructed, and because they were built on the stands of victims, in this area victims of Operation Murambatsvina have been allocated Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle houses. Although the entire community was promised Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle housing, construction stopped after the existing houses were built in late 2005 and there is no evidence of any further construction taking place. In Victoria Falls a group working on community solutions to housing, whose members had been affected by Operation Murambatsvina, met with the local Council to ask about the Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle houses being built in Victoria Falls. The Council reportedly said they did not know anything about Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle and that the project was under the Ministry of Local Government. On 30 April 2006 the group took Amnesty International to view the Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle site, where approximately 100 houses were built but unfinished and uninhabited. The group claimed that, despite having many members affected by Operation Murambatsvina and needing housing, they did not know how to access these houses, or how they were being allocated. Unaffordable52 The victims of Operation Murambatsvina were amongst the poorest people in Zimbabwe. As a direct consequence of Operation Murambatsvina they were driven deeper into poverty and vulnerability, losing their homes, their livelihoods and other small assets, such as clothes, food and furniture, they may have owned. Despite the government’s assertions that Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle housing and stands are intended for those affected by Operation Murambatsvina and the homeless, the cost of both is well beyond the reach of the majority of the victims. 51 Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights press release, “ZLHR disturbed by continued destruction of shelter and non-provision of housing for the victims of Operation Murambatsvina”, 19 May 2006. 52 Zimbabwe dollar amounts quoted in this report are as stated by the interviewees and the exchange rate used to convert to Z$ is that in use at the time of the research, May 2006. The government has since re-issued the currency deleting three zeros from the face value of notes and devalued the currency against the US$. Amnesty International 8 September 2006 AI Index: AFR 46/005/2006