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mass forced evictions known as Operation Murambatsvina (Restore Order), literally wiped out the ability of
poor households to meet their basic needs.
In 2004 Amnesty International concluded that the government of Zimbabwe’s fast-track land reform
programme had contributed to a drastic reduction in domestic production of food and food security.(16) The
land reform programme also left some 70% of farm workers without jobs, greatly reducing their ability to pay
for food, healthcare, and education. Three years later, Amnesty International found that the situation of
former farm labourers has further deteriorated. The few farm labourers who are still in employment are now
more vulnerable to exploitative forms of employment by the new settlers who pay the labourers very low
wages.(17) The General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union (GAPWUZ), a trade union representing
farm labourers, reports that its membership was significantly reduced to 55,000 from 300,000 before the
government’s fast-track land reform programme. The majority of the trade union’s former members are now
unemployed or can no longer afford to pay membership fees. An estimated 150,000 former farm labourers
were in need of food aid because they had lost their livelihoods as a direct result of Zimbabwe’s fast-track
land reform between 2000 and 2002.(18) Farm evictions were still being reported during the first quarter of
2007.
In March 2007 the minimum wage for general farm labourers was Z$32,000 per month, a wage that would
barely buy six loaves of bread. Members of GAPWUZ told Amnesty International that many labourers are
paid significantly below this minimum wage. For example, Iris, a farm labourer from the farming town of
Chegutu in Mashonaland West province, told Amnesty International that she is paid Z$4,000 a month. She
is the mother of two school-age children and pays a monthly rent of Z$30,000. Such low incomes often force
women to engage in commercial sex work to supplement their incomes, thereby exposing them to HIV
infection.
The government of Zimbabwe’s programme of mass forced evictions in 2005 contributed significantly to
reducing the capacity of urban and peri-urban households to obtain food, healthcare, education and
housing.(19) With unemployment in Zimbabwe standing at 80%, this had a drastic effect on the capacity of
households to earn a decent living. The mass forced evictions targeted flea markets and vegetable vendors
among other businesses in the informal sector. Because of their preponderance as vendors and informal
traders, women were disproportionately affected by the government’s destruction of small businesses. The
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) notes that by 1998 women accounted for 67% of all microenterprises (77% of those in urban areas and 62% of those based in rural areas).(20) Operation
Murambatsvina dealt a severe blow to households headed by women, and undermined women’s ability to
provide for their families as their source of income was eroded.
The informal sector is the only source of employment and livelihood for a significant proportion of the
population in Zimbabwe. By 2004, the informal economy was estimated to account for 40% of all forms of
employment, and had effectively become the mainstay of the majority of the urban population.(21)
Amnesty International has documented how Operation Murambatsvina resulted in the destruction of at least
32,538 small and micro-businesses across the country, creating a loss of livelihood for 97,614 people
(mostly women) who were targeted indiscriminately.(22)
In February and March 2007, Amnesty International delegates witnessed daily increases in the prices of
basic goods such as food and transport, while most people’s wages remained static. Throughout the places
visited by Amnesty International, women were desperately trying to sell their goods, including crafts, sweets,
fruit and vegetables. At the same time they were attempting to avoid being arrested and having their goods
confiscated by police, and sometimes were fined for contravening onerous municipal vending by-laws that
require vendors to be registered and to sell only at designated points.
Some of the vendors were operating legally before Operation Murambatsvina. However, they are now
deemed illegal because they have not been able to complete the "vetting" and re-licensing process
introduced by the government after Operation Murambatsvina. Most women vendors fail to complete the
"vetting" process because they cannot afford the fees, or because, even with a vending licence, they have
not been allocated a site for vending. Where vending sites have been allocated, they are often badly
positioned, and vendors struggle to sell anything.
The majority of those affected by government’s clampdown on the informal sector were poor women. One
organization providing credit to micro-businesses, including many of those involved in street vending and
trading, described the impact: "Our business has totally changed. We do not work with the poorest anymore.
They are gone; 85% of our clients were poor women, and they have been driven out of business by
Operation Murambatsvina."(23)