UN envoy praises Zim govt's 'vision'

A special United Nations envoy sent to investigate Zimbabwe's controversial campaign of shack demolitions praised President Robert Mugabe's government for its "vision", the state-run Herald newspaper claimed on Friday.

The paper said Anna Tibaijuka, the head of UN-Habitat, told Cabinet ministers on Thursday that the Zimbabwe government had shown its "seriousness" in allocating housing stands to homeless people.

"The allocation of stands for housing is a reflection of the seriousness of [the] government. Operation Garikai [Settle and Prosper] is good. The vision is clear," Tibaijuka was quoted as saying.

Police launched a wave of shack demolitions, dubbed Operation Restore Order, in May, in what the authorities said was a bid to restore order and cleanliness to Zimbabwe's cities and towns. About 300 000 people were apparently made homeless.

The government now says that Operation Restore Order has been replaced by Operation Settle and Prosper, which will see new houses constructed on a massive scale.

Tibaijuka was taken to see four model houses that have been constructed at a site just outside Harare, in a constituency won by Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union -- Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) in parliamentary elections in March.

"I believe this is the beginning of the beginning. UN-Habitat is looking forward to working with you," the Herald, which closely reflects the government line, quoted Tibaijuka as saying.

Tibaijuka is due to compile a report on her assessment of the demolitions campaign, which will be presented to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says it does not believe the government has the resources to carry out the construction of the promised houses.

Zimbabwe is currently in the grips of a severe economic crisis, with inflation running at more than 144%. Fuel, foreign currency and cement are in short supply.

At least three killed At least three people were killed as police razed a slum on the outskirts of Harare, witnesses told Tibaijuka on Thursday.

"A boy was struck by a police truck yesterday [Wednesday]", Jane Petter told Tibaijuka who was visiting Porta Farm, a slum on the western outskirts of Harare, with journalists.

"He panicked when he saw police destroying houses and tried to run away. He didn't see the oncoming police truck which killed him," the witness said.

Another witness said an ailing woman and a one-year-old toddler died in separate incidents on Tuesday when they were hit by falling rubble as police demolished their home.

"The woman was bedridden, and when the police came her elderly mother couldn't pull her out of the house", said Nai Douglas.

"In the other incident, the child was in the house when the police came with the bulldozer. His mother was not able to remove him."

Another woman showed the UN envoy a two-month-old baby who was abandoned by her mother during the demolitions. "This child has been crying since morning. We don't know where the mother is," she said.

Many complained that the police were destroying their properties and forcing them on to trucks heading to a transit camp set up by the government for families displaced by the clean up campaign.

The human rights organisation Amnesty International said earlier on Thursday it had received information that three people died, among them a child and a pregnant woman, in the last 48 hours during the eviction of the 10 000 residents of Porta Farm, an informal settlement established by Mugabe's regime over 10 years ago.

The Zimbabwean government attempted to clear Porta Farm last September using tear gas and excessive force during which at least 11 people died, Amnesty said in a statement.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan sent Anna Tibaijuka last week to Zimbabwe to assess the humanitarian impact of the demolitions and the clean-up campaign. She held talks with President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday and visited areas affected by the campaign.

Mugabe said afterwards that the demolitions had been planned well in advance, and the government was setting aside $333-million to build new homes. - Sapa-DPA

Wonder what the UN would have thought of Hitler's relocation of Jews to the East. . . or the Khmer Rouge policy of relocating people out of the cities and back to the land. . .

Sadly, the destruction of these shanties reminds me of

this old childrens' song.

"With what should I fix it, dear Liza, dear Liza,
With what should I fix it, dear Liza, with what?"

If the people had nothing to build homes with in the first place, what will they now use to rebuild?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm a firm advocate of the decisive and judicious use of force -- where force is applicable. But, IMHO, in this case Mugabe is simply acting as the megalomaniac he certainly is.

I just hope our whiningliberals don't insist that we are responsible for fixing what this madman has destroyed... :-(

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