Chombo stops Murambatsvina

Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo announced on 15 July 2005, that the government was halting Operation Restore Order (Murambatsvina) for 10 days to allow low-density suburb residents time to legalise any structures that did not conform to their land’s official plans.

That was the end of the operation which was highly unpopular and was generally viewed as a way of hitting back at supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change.

Full cable:

Viewing cable 05HARARE980, GOZ ANNOUNCES SUSPENSION OF DEMOLITIONS

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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 000980

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

AF FOR DAS T. WOODS

AF/S FOR B. NEULING

OVP FOR NULAND

NSC FOR DNSA ABRAMS, SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR C. COURVILLE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2010

TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR ASEC ZI

SUBJECT: GOZ ANNOUNCES SUSPENSION OF DEMOLITIONS

REF: HARARE 976 AND PREVIOUS ON “RESTORE ORDER”

Classified By: Charge d’ Affaires a.i. under Section 1.4 b/d

¶1. (SBU) On July 15, Housing Minister Ignatius Chombo

announced that the GOZ would halt Operation Restore Order,

the GOZ’s nationwide campaign to demolish “unauthorized

structures” (reftel), for ten days in order to allow

low-density suburb residents time to legalize any structures

that do not conform to their land,s official plans. The

Embassy is unaware of any demolitions in urban or rural areas

that have taken place since the minister,s announcement. We

will, however, continue to monitor the government,s actions.

¶2. (C) Comment: It seems clear that the surprise hiatus came

under duress. Local media reports speculate that the

suspension was the result of last weeks, visit by South

Africa’s new Vice President. The Vice President,s visit was

itself apparently in response to growing disapproval from

fellow Africans of the operation, including especially the UN

Special Envoy,s report, which is expected to be critical,

and the tough statement from the South African Council of

Churches after their visit last week. As much as the respite

is welcome news, even more welcome is the apparent

involvement of the SAG in an effort to moderate the Mugabe

regime and its policies.

SCHULTZ

(15 VIEWS)