By Staff Reporter
Over 200 families have been left homeless after police acting on the instructions of a Zanu PF controlled company razed homes to the ground in the poor suburb of Epworth in Harare. The pouring rains made their plight even worse.
Two-dozen anti-riot police officers kept watch as the demolitions took place in an exercise reminiscent of the brutal 2005 Operation Murambatsvina (Drive Out Rubbish) targeting so-called illegal settlements and market stalls.
The latest demolitions expose Zanu PF’s patronage system in that those affected were allocated the residential stands by the local Zanu PF leadership who were urging beneficiaries to vote for Zanu PF at the next elections.
Many women holding crying babies could be seen watching helplessly as the bulldozers razed their possessions to the ground. Worse still many furious residents were duped into paying protection fees last week after being told the local Zanu PF leadership could save their homes from demolition.
The owners of the land are Sunway City a subsidiary of the Industrial Development Corporation of Zimbabwe, which is effectively run by Zanu PF. Some members of the local Zanu PF leadership could be heard denouncing the party claiming they felt betrayed by its actions in failing to protect them.
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