D.
Case Study Three:
Current situation of a range of IDPs from 2005
These IDPS were first accounted for in October 2005 and again in August 2006. We tracked
down as many as we could, to find out how they had fared by 2010.
The following case summaries track the lives of 122 individuals over the last five years. These
were people who were all dumped in rural areas in 2005. By 2006, we noted that the majority
of them had already returned to the urban setting, mostly to the informal settlements of
Killarney and Ngozi Mine where many had originated. Surprisingly, in 2010 we were once
more able to track down substantial information on most settlements that we first tracked in
2005. However, the current whereabouts of one young girl, and of the seven interviewees of
an informal mining settlement in Insiza ‐ now entirely gone ‐ remain unknown.
Based on what we observed and were told, it seems that many people are now fairly settled
where they are, although this is often more a matter of circumstance than real choice. A few
individuals travel between the urban and rural setting. Several men have failed to adjust to
the demands of rural life, and have not had the resources such as livestock and other inputs to
make a success of rural farming, in spite of having been allocated stands there. But at times it
has suited families to continue to maintain the claim on a rural home that they had not been
entitled to prior to 2005, and to also keep a foot in the towns, for purposes of earning a living.
Wife and children therefore at times remain rural while the older children and the husband
return to where they can make a living out of piece work or vending.
Out of the 122 individuals, 7 have died (6%).
65% are back in the informal settlements of Bulawayo – but this is a reduction from the 80%
observed in 2006, and is owing to the dividing of families between rural and urban settings.
23% are still in the rural areas, not a very different figure from the 19% of 2006. And 6% have
disappeared from contact.
Chart v: current location of 122 IDPs first tracked in rural areas in 2005
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