After the demolitions: • Living space per person in the main house: 3,39 sqm For the landlords, the influx of tenants from the backyard structures has meant a reduction of more than 40% of their personal living area. Even for the tenants, who had less space than landlords to start with, the space per person is reduced, by 9 %. In some cases, the overcrowding is massive – in Case example III ahead, living space 8 months after the demolitions was 1,18 sqm per person! Families appear to have made every effort to stay together, enduring huge overcrowding rather than split up. In spite of this, 12% of families were forced to split up as a result of demolitions. Staying together has meant that there are now entire families or groups of individuals living in what would have once been a kitchen or living room. The lack of privacy is total for all concerned. The over populating of main houses has led to uneasy reorganisation of family constellations. In many instances, husbands and wives now sleep in separate rooms, as men all sleep together in one room and women in another. In some instances, teenage children of the opposite sex, sometimes related and sometimes not, are forced to share rooms. There is constant movement between houses now, with single men in particular finding themselves camping out a few nights with one relative, then a few nights with another. In some cases, backyard lean-tos are starting to emerge [see photos 5 and 6], but they are of appalling quality compared to the structures that were demolished: people live in fear of further demolitions and are not prepared to invest in structures; shacks are kept low and therefore not obvious from the road…. The impact of the demolitions and the resultant movements of people can be best illustrated by some detailed case histories. Case example I: Before Murambatsvina: 2 buildings on one stand, 1 main house and 1 ‘illegal’ structure, the latter erected in 1984, both brick and mortar under corrugated iron, electrified, with outside water and toilet. 1 room, ~ 15m2 6 people: couple with 8-yold daughter and wife’s sisters (22, 17 and 3 years old) 2 rooms, ~ 18m2 4 people: family of four, related to family of six Situation: 10 people on 33 m2 in 3 rooms (‘illegal’: 2.5m2 and legal: 4.5m2/per person) 44