Zimbabwe homelessness crisis exposed by church-backed report
-31/08/06
An NGO in South
Zimbabwe homelessness crisis exposed by church-backed report
-31/08/06
An NGO in Southern Africa yesterday (30 August 2006) released a shocking report on the fate of about 700,000 Zimbabweans who were made homeless last May when the government demolished their houses ñ reports Independent Catholic News.
The Solidarity Peace Trust said that almost nothing has been done to re-house those who lost their homes during the Robert Mugabe governmentís Operation Murambatsvina (Clean up Filth) campaign, which, the United Nations confirmed, had also “destroyed the livelihoods of an estimated 90,000 vendors.”
“Fifteen months later, almost nothing has been done to house those who lost homes and livelihoods, or to salvage the informal trading sector,” Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo, who is chair of the Trust, told reporters in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Archbishop said the UN had been unable to carry out its emergency housing programme because it was being obstructed by the government’s land policies.
He added: “The survivors of Operation Murambatsvina are living in desperately overcrowded conditions. Zimbabwe now has 70% unemployment, a near 1,000 per cent inflation rate and acute shortages of food, fuel and basic commodities.
Ncube continued: “The government had failed to live up to its promises. They themselves said that they would construct 300,000 houses. They’ve constructed a few hundred houses and none of them have been occupied.”
A Zimbabwean government spokesperson has denied the report’s claims. He told Channel Four TV News in the UK that Zimbabwe’s problems were caused by the fact that they have been isolated from the rest of the world by countries like Britain.
[Also on Ekklesia: Churches provide Zimbabwe relief and step up protests; Church leaders condemn Mugabe clampdown; Mugabe accused of using prayer event to entrench oppressive rule; Rebel prelate condemns ‘corrupt’ church collusion with Mugabe; Mugabe laces God-talk with venom and threats; Bishop calls for cricket boycott; WCC condemns Mugabe’s forced evictions; Zimbabwean police ban church parades and prayer vigils]
Zimbabwe homelessness crisis exposed by church-backed report
-31/08/06
An NGO in Southern Africa yesterday (30 August 2006) released a shocking report on the fate of about 700,000 Zimbabweans who were made homeless last May when the government demolished their houses ñ reports Independent Catholic News.
The Solidarity Peace Trust said that almost nothing has been done to re-house those who lost their homes during the Robert Mugabe governmentís Operation Murambatsvina (Clean up Filth) campaign, which, the United Nations confirmed, had also “destroyed the livelihoods of an estimated 90,000 vendors.”
“Fifteen months later, almost nothing has been done to house those who lost homes and livelihoods, or to salvage the informal trading sector,” Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo, who is chair of the Trust, told reporters in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Archbishop said the UN had been unable to carry out its emergency housing programme because it was being obstructed by the government’s land policies.
He added: “The survivors of Operation Murambatsvina are living in desperately overcrowded conditions. Zimbabwe now has 70% unemployment, a near 1,000 per cent inflation rate and acute shortages of food, fuel and basic commodities.
Ncube continued: “The government had failed to live up to its promises. They themselves said that they would construct 300,000 houses. They’ve constructed a few hundred houses and none of them have been occupied.”
A Zimbabwean government spokesperson has denied the report’s claims. He told Channel Four TV News in the UK that Zimbabwe’s problems were caused by the fact that they have been isolated from the rest of the world by countries like Britain.
[Also on Ekklesia: Churches provide Zimbabwe relief and step up protests; Church leaders condemn Mugabe clampdown; Mugabe accused of using prayer event to entrench oppressive rule; Rebel prelate condemns ‘corrupt’ church collusion with Mugabe; Mugabe laces God-talk with venom and threats; Bishop calls for cricket boycott; WCC condemns Mugabe’s forced evictions; Zimbabwean police ban church parades and prayer vigils]