I get angry every winter when I remember the horrors of Murambatsvina, writes MUNYARADZI DUBE.It was in the month of May in 2005 when the demolitions began that made close to a million people homeless.
Soldiers and the police under command from Mugabe destroyed our homes and our lives. Family and friends were killed in the operation that Mugabes aide, police commissioner Augustine Chihuri, described as designed to get rid of maggots.
Today, people who once had homes are homeless and are at the mercy of the vagaries of the weather, which promises to be freezing this June and July.
Victims of Operation Murambatsvina occupy the bottom tier in the social ladder and are often victims of diseases such cholera. Food insecurity is rife among them and Mugabe, who destroyed their homes, does not even care.
Mugabe has never apologised for the madness that saw children dropping out of school and people being displaced from their sources of income as he sought to punish the urbanites for voting for the MDC – then an opposition party.
And now that the dust has settled, nothing has been done to the people who gravely abused and trampled on our rights to shelter.
Today, people who once had walls and roofs over their heads, now live in plastic mansions that rumble with the wind, while Mugabe and his agents of destruction are living in luxurious mansions, with all the trappings that I cannot even imagine.
While the summer warms my heart, the winter fills my soul with gloom and sadness. I get angry every winter when I remember the horrors of Murambatsvina six years ago and I am not alone. Thousands of other Zimbabweans lost something during that unforgettable month.
Post published in: News