Human Rights Archive Zimbabwe

The report shows findings from the study area of Masvingo pertaining to who got the land during the land reform program and whether they are utilizing it or not.

This preliminary report was predicated by the need to provide some hard information on the issues faced by displaced commercial farm workers. It was not the intention that this survey provide any estimate of the numbers, but rather to provide some qualitative data on the population in question.

AN ACT to provide for the acquisition of State land and the disposal of State land; to provide for the control of the subdivision and lease of land for farming or other purposes; to provide for limiting of the number of pieces of land that may be owned by any person and the sizes of such land, and for prohibiting or restricting the rights of non-residents to own, lease or occupy land in Zimbabwe, and to provide for other matters incidental to and connected with the foregoing.

Zimbabweans are now the second biggest group of foreign Africans in South Africa. Yet there is little formal information available on their situation. Very few are being officially recorded as political refugees. Some Zimbabweans claim that it is hard to access asylum seeker status. It was the intention of the authors to investigate these allegations, as well as to establish other problems and issues of relevance to Zimbabweans in South Africa.

A report demonstrating a recent study on risk aversion, Operation Murambatsvina [OM] had severe effects upon the population of Zimbabwe (Masunungure et al. 2017). The percentage of Zimbabweans that reported being “risk takers” in 1999 was 84%, but this dropped to a paltry 13% in 2005.The present study examined the changes in aspects of citizen agency – political participation, community participation, political trust and political affiliation – as well as lived poverty for three periods, 2004, 2005 and 2009.

“Operation Murambatsvina” and “Operation Restore Order” are the code names used by the police for a massive operation that began in Zimbabwe towards the end of May. This nationwide campaign, which has been conducted in the cities and towns, in peri-urban areas, and on farms settled after land invasions, has led to the destruction of many thousands of houses and means of shelter, trading stalls and markets.

This report attempts to give a factual account of the impact Operation Murambatsvina/Restore Order. This is done through analysis of the impact at both household level and community level.

This report traces developments that have taken place since our June report and gives an overview of the main consequences of Operation Murambatsvina since it commenced on 19 May 2005. It also locates the Operation in the context of events that have happened in Zimbabwe over several years.

The Zimbabwean authorities claimed that the destruction of homes and other properties is part of a long-term plan to clean up the urban areas, restore order, rid the cities of criminal elements and restore dignity to the people.

This report tells the stories of the mass evictions and house demolitions and the continuing suffering of those affected, mostly in the words of victims. Women, children and men recount how they were forced to destroy their own houses, often at gunpoint.

The ZTVP conducted a ‘snap’ survey of 236 Zimbabweans in 5 different locations of Gauteng during July and early August 2005. None of those interviewed were or are clients of the ZTVP or the related ‘Tree of Life’ healing programme.

The report is based on a Human Rights Watch mission to Limpopo province in April and May 2006. Because of the historical predominance of Zimbabwean migrants on farms in the far north of Limpopo province and the increasing numbers of Zimbabwean migrants fleeing the deteriorating political and economic situation in Zimbabwe, Human Rights Watch focused its research on Limpopo.

Between 1991 and 2003, urban poverty trebled in Zimbabwe. It was against this background of escalating economic collapse and social disintegration that “Operation Murambatsvina” (OM), or “Discarding the Filth”, took place in mid 2005. In the space of a few weeks, 700,000 people lost their homes and/or livelihoods in a process that the UN has referred to as “indiscriminate and unjustified”. More than two million others suffered related losses as a result of the demolitions.

Widespread human rights violations were inflicted upon white farmers and black farm workers by agents of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s government during the seizures of whiteowned farms from 2000 to 2005.

The Crisis of immigration into South Africa is a direct product of the crisis in Zimbabwe, as economic recovery in Zimbabwe is not likely to occur soon, its biggest export will remain its people.

The report talks of the forceful eviction of commercial white farmers during the fast track land reform process and how it was one of the primary drivers of Zimbabwe's sudden economic downfall. The process was characterized by gross human rights violations and disregard of the rule of law.

This report follows up on previous OM research conducted by SPT in 2005 and 2006 and build on narratives of the lives of particular families and informal settlements from 2005 to 2010. The story is a grim one with many of those we remembered now prematurely dead, and others living in unspeakable poverty.

South Africa receives more asylum seekers than any other country in the world with people mainly coming from Zimbabwe, the DRC, Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Somalia, as well as from countries further afield to escape poverty, insecurity and political turmoil.