90% of people surviving via the informal sector, this continued “criminalisation” of it,
is patently ridiculous.
4.
De Doorns and the “diaspora” displaced
The De Doorns case study further indicates that while OM itself was a factor in driving
some people out of Zimbabwe in search of work (approx 30% of our respondents), it
was more the cumulative impact of OM followed by the economic and service delivery
collapse of 2008/9 which drove most of these respondents into the diaspora (60%).
De Doorns respondents have confirmed the findings of previous studies of OM that the
demolitions were of substantial buildings, and resulted in devastating losses to
families, including in 62% of cases, loss of livelihood.
Nearly half of individuals on chronic medication in 2005 suffered interruption as a
result of OM, and some have never resumed access.
71% of families with school going children experienced disruption to schooling and in
28% of cases disruption was severe, resulting in years of lost schooling, or permanent
drop out.
5.
A nation on the move – still
The case studies in this report illustrate the lives of extreme hardship that have driven
Zimbabweans from one place of abode to another in the last five years. In urban Bulawayo, we
found that 80% of people on our target sites had moved on between 2005 and 2010. We
found that people in the informal settlements in Bulawayo have moved an average of 4,2
times in the last five years �� to end up exactly where they started out – only to be evicted
again in July 2010! And we found that Zimbabweans who have travelled as far as the Western
Cape have lived in up to seven places in the last five years, and are also once more on the
move, chasing seasonal employment and fleeing xenophobia. Zimbabwe’s population is in a
state of flux and movement, and each move costs dearly in terms of lost possessions,
interruption in access to services, and emotional stress. Families have been forced to live
apart, with children in Zimbabwe living with grandparents while their parents earn abroad, or
living in rural areas while their parents struggle to make money in the informal sector in the
towns. The social fabric of Zimbabwe has been ripped apart.
C.
Recommendations
As so little has been done to formally improve the situation since our report “Meltdown” was
published in 2006, the recommendations, sadly, are being reproduced here with only minor
alterations.
1. Urban housing
The international community should investigate possibilities of funding large housing
projects either directly through some of the more accountable local authorities, or
through NGOs partnering them.
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