Photos 38 and 39 [below] from busy settlement (2005) to empty landscape (2010)
Update 2010
This mining community has now completely disappeared. There is scarcely a sign that anyone
ever lived here. The mining shafts are abandoned and overgrown, and there is no evidence of
shacks for kilometers around in the surrounding bush. This community probably became
victims of the late 2006 crack down on gold panners and small scale miners, called “Operation
Chikorakoza”, in which many hundreds were rounded up and imprisoned. People were forced
to fill in shafts manually, and tools were impounded by the police, across the nation.
Situation seven
Rural district in the Midlands
Family of husband, wife and seven children
Originally from Porta Farm near Harare
Interviews: May 2010
This family with seven children had lived at Porta Farm, outside Harare, for many years prior
to the total demolition of this settlement in June 2006. They lost a four bedroomed home, the
wife’s shop, and the husband’s surgery where he practised as a traditional healer. They were
forcibly taken first to Caledonia Farm and then by police trucks to Masvingo, and from there
had to make their own way to the Midlands district where they had rural extended families.
By June 2006, the husband was living with his mother in law, which is in the same village as
an old, derelict homestead they had been given but had not moved into. The wife was living
ten kilometres away from this village, running a shop. Two children were with her, the
youngest and one child in Grade two, who was in school. There were signs that the marriage
was under strain, even though the family was clearly doing fairly well financially, even being
able to employ two people to help with the store.
Update 2010 – still a success story
The wife continues to live in this area, and seems very settled there with her children.
However, she and her husband have divorced and he has gone back to Harare. The store has
done well, and the wife is considering expanding the business and buying up other stores in
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