Human Rights Archive Zimbabwe

“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.

The utterances of political leaders can be very revealing. Their commitment to democracy and human rights is most tested when there is a serious challenge to their continued hold on power or when they attract heavy criticism. At such times, the leaders either display political tolerance or they lash out at their critics and opponents. Leaders with repressive tendencies will turn to repression; leaders who respect democracy will not.

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.

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.

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.

Amnesty International welcomes the initiative by the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non discrimination in this context to prepare guidance for states on designing and implementing effective human rights-based housing strategies to realize the right to housing and to fulfil commitments made under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda.

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.

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.

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.

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.