IT NEVER rains but literally pours for Reigate Compound residents who had their houses demolished by the Zanu PF-controlled Umguza Rural District Council on the outskirts of Bulawayo this week.
Yesterday this newspaper’s news crew toured the Reigate Compound and witnessed an unfolding humanitarian crisis triggered by the heartless actions of Umguza RDC officials that sanctioned the planned eviction and demolition of houses of the residents.
They were stranded amid the soaking rains which pounded most of Matabeleland and its hinterlands, including Umguza.
Some sheltered under streets risking being struck lightning while 20 others were cramped like the proverbial sardines a small one-roomed structure.
Household goods, among them beds and sofas, lay scattered outside the demolished structures.
It was clear some slept in rain and hungry because of the demotion scandal which started in Harare a few weeks ago.
These planned evictions and demolition of property is a clear and gross violation of the fundamental rights of Reigate residents given the fact that Zimbabwe has entered a new constitutional dispensation, which provides for the protection of the basic human rights of the people.
The officials at Umguza RDC should be aware of the new supreme law of the land.
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Section 74 of the new Constitution states that: “No person may be evicted from their home, or have their home demolished, without an order of court made after considering all the relevant circumstances.”
The Umguza RDC might have strong reasons of evicting and demolishing homes of the of Reigate residents, but again it should have taken the steps to ensure that all families and people affected are provided alternative accommodation, according to our homegrown constitution.
The local authority has an obligation in terms of Section 28 of the Constitution to guarantee shelter for people under its jurisdiction.
Section 28 of the Constitution states that: “The State and all institutions and agencies of government at every level must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within the limits of the resources available to them, to enable every person to have access to adequate shelter.”
It is trite to mention that the local authority failed to provide a clear framework of resettlement to ensure that the fundamental rights of the displaced people to shelter is not violated.
The Constitution also guarantees the Right to Human Dignity (Section 5), which Section 86 (3) (b) says may not be limited; Freedom from Degrading Treatment (Section 53), Freedom of Residence and Freedom from Arbitrary Eviction (Section 74).
These planned evictiosn and demolitions are illegally and simply evoke memories of the May-July 2005 slum clearance known as Operation Murambatsvina.
