Ÿ In Kwekwe, a case was brought against RioZim. The company was blasting rocks which were shelling some Eiffel Flats residences. A case was brought to the High Court by residents seeking to interdict the blasting, relying on the right to a safe environment. The case was won in the High Court and RioZim appealed in the Supreme Court. Ÿ In Goromonzi, gold rush panning caused clashes between security guards and the panners, leaving several panners dead. Rival gangs, one from Shurugwi and another from the local area, had running battles over ownership of illegal gold mines at Jongwe Farm. In September, 4 gold panners at Arcturus Mine in the same area were left seriously injured and admitted at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals after some security guards opened fire on them owing to a control dispute over a gold field. The security guards who were employees of TN Holdings, the owners of the mine, were taken in for questioning by the police. Ÿ In April, over fifty families, including women and children, were unlawfully evicted from their homes at Arcturus Mine. The evictions were carried out by TN Holdings, the new owner of Acturus Mine which purchased the property from the previous owner, Metallon Gold Zimbabwe. The former owner’s workers were still owed salary arrears. Families and their household belongings were thrown out into the rain and cold and spent several nights in the cold. Some of the evicted people had lived at the mine for all their life. It is believed that Mettalon which had purported to summarily dismiss the employees without due process, colluded with the new owner TN Holdings to evict the families. The workers had a pending labour court dispute against Metallon Gold. The Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) condemned the violation of the rights to shelter, human dignity, as well as to property which was damaged. Ÿ In 2018, the ZHRC completed an investigation in a case of evictions by the Makoni Rural District Council, lodged by settlers at Yorkshire Farm in Headlands. The violations were alleged to have been committed in November 2017 by ZRP officers, as well as Makoni Rural District Council. The ZHRC concluded that evictions of illegal settlers continue unabated in Zimbabwe, largely because Zimbabwe does not have rules and regulations on the eviction procedure of both former farm workers and illegal settlers on agricultural land (former white commercial farms). The Commission concluded that although the complainants were illegal settlers and could not hold or have right of title to the farms, their eviction from farms without any alternative land being offered was a violation of their right to adequate shelter and their freedom from arbitrary eviction. Ÿ The ZHRC also concluded another eviction complaint by residents of Maganga Estate in Marondera. The complaint was filed on the 7 November 2017 by one Farai George Siyawamwaya, the Village Head, who approached the Commission on his own accord on behalf of his village. The violations were alleged to have been committed on 8 November 2017 by officials from the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement who were accompanied by members of the ZRP. Similarly, the Commission concluded that the evictions were arbitrary and illegal. 53 STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT ZIMBABWE 2018