In summary: => between 84% and 93% of people displaced by the demolitions defied the government directive to return to rural areas.96 It is clear that the government’s stated intention of driving people out of the towns and back to rural areas has resoundingly failed. This whole appalling exercise of demolishing town dwellings has served only to illustrate that there is more to a person’s identity than a particular building, and that governments cannot reverse rural to urban drift simply by demanding that people leave the towns. It is not possible to knock down somebody’s house and tell them that they are now therefore a rural dweller. People will cope with extreme hardship in order to maintain their rights to an urban life, however tough, if that is what they have decided they want. Quality of life, post demolitions The determination of those who lost their backyard dwellings to nonetheless remain in Bulawayo, has resulted in a tangible drop in the most basic of living conditions on the properties where they reside. This has impacted not only on those displaced from the backyard but obviously on their landlords. On only two properties (2,3%) did the space per person go up after the demolitions, from 2,67 sqm to 3,87 sqm, as a result of tenants moving out. For the other 97,7% of properties where dimensions are known, the findings are given below. 97 Space (sqm) per person on stand 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 main house backyard after demolition Prior to the demolitions: • Living space per person in the main house: • Living space per person in the backyard structures: 96 5,63 sqm 3,67 sqm Actual figure depends on where the missing 10% are. It is reasonable to assume that 90% of the displaced in this urban study are still in the urban setting. 97 On 50 properties for which all measurements were available for both remaining and previous structures: approximately 56% of stands in the sample. 43