Zimbabwe Denies Plan for Shantytown Evictions

Zimbabwe has denied that it is planning mass evictions from a shantytown outside the capital, Harare.

Amnesty International said a month ago that the Zimbabwe government was threatening 20,000 residents of the Hatcliffe settlement with eviction if they did not pay a lease renewal fee of up to $140. The human rights group said that amount would be “prohibitive” for the impoverished residents.

But Housing Minister Giles Mutseyekwa Thursday “categorically” denied there is an eviction plan and said none is being planned. He said the lease renewal fee is $15 and that it can be paid in installments.

Many Hatcliffe residents are victims of a 2005 mass eviction campaign called Operation Murambatsvina (Drive out Filth), which forced 700,000 people from their homes in shantytowns. The government promised to build more houses but only built a small number.

Some information in this story was provided by AFP.