Zimbabwe Rule of Law Journal |141 inconsistent with it is invalid to the extent of the inconsistency. Therefore, as a starting premise this paper will interrogate whether or not the ongoing house demolitions comply with the standards and procedures set out in the constitution. Thereafter, it will investigate whether or not the demolitions pass the muster of international human rights law, particularly rules of customary international law and the various international and regional treaties to which Zimbabwe is party. The Constitutional Standard There are numerous constitutional provisions that should be complied with in order to bring the ongoing house demolitions within the scope of the Constitution. More specifically, s 74 provides protection against arbitrary eviction in the following terms; ”No person may be evicted from their home, or have their home demolished without an order of court made after considering all the relevant circumstances.” Arbitrary eviction may be defined as the “… permanent or temporary forceful removal individuals, families and or communities from their homes or land which they are occupying.”5 Invariably, arbitrary evictions occur when there is no regard paid to due process and there is no mechanism followed to hear those who will be affected.6 Likewise, in the context of demolitions, a demolition would occur when a part or whole of a dwelling is destroyed against the will of the occupants and without following due process. It is therefore clear that for any home demolition to comply with s 74 there should be a court order sanctioning the demolition of the house which court order should be made after the court has considered all “relevant circumstances”. This provision mandates that substantive requirements should 5 6 The UN Committee on Economic , Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No.7 On the Right to Housing (1997 ) para 4 See also Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights Fact Sheet No.2 of 2015.