‘We have not made anybody homeless’: regulation and control of urban life in Zimbabwe

Abstract

In May and June 2005, thousands of Zimbabweans were brutally displaced from urban areas. But 'Operation Murambatsvina' was not simply an unpredictable 'tsunami,' rather it provides a moment in which long-held prejudices and assumptions which shaped the developmental state became visible, reflecting not just the internalisation of the Rhodesian, modernist world-view, but also its imbrication with local understandings of home and home-ness. To see Murambatsvina as simply a politically expedient move is to miss the deep resonance of the political rhetoric, the ways it was embedded in the state, and how it is shaped by norms of citizenship.Contextualised against Harare's urban politics, the clearances reveal a long-standing set of policies designed to regulate and control urban life, forming part of a broader crisis of the post-colonial developmental state. (150 words)

Urban Displacement and Resettlement in Zimbabwe: The Paradoxes of Propertied Citizenship

“…It also resulted in a greater presence than ever before of international organizations concerned with internal displacement. This was the case in spite of a long and normalized history of urban evictions in Zimbabwe, as elsewhere, since colonial times (Mlambo 2008; Dorman 2016; Myers 2011). On the other hand, for the mostly opposition-led urban councils, including in Bulawayo, the aftermath of Murambatsvina confronted them with new challenges of both service provision and political and moral legitimacy.…”

“…In this regard Murambatsvina revealed urban councils to be, just as other state entities, “a unity of contradictions” (Roy 2006:8). For long they had performed the paradoxical role of occasionally destroying illegal settlements such as urban squatter camps, while also (though far less frequently) allocating land for the resettlement of squatters (Dorman 2016). Ironically, for the Trenance and Killarney squatters, the advent of Murambatsvina created a unique opportunity for resettlement, which, more than likely, would not have arisen had the campaign of mass urban displacement not taken place.…”

“…It was also seen as a way for the party-state to reassert control over revenue that had drifted away from the formal to the informal sector since the 1990s, and in particular to gain control over the black market in foreign currency that was mushrooming in key urban centers as the formal economy radically declined (Hammar 2008; Bratton & Masunungure 2007; Mawowa & Matongo 2010). On the other hand, Dorman (2016) offers a convincing argument for seeing Murambtasvina as grounded in somewhat longer-term planning, as well as locating it in a longer political history of urban disruptions and dislocations across both colonial and postcolonial eras.…”

“…But since Zanu PF’s own voters were primarily in rural areas, one might argue, in fact, that Operation Murambatsvina was really an attempt by the party-state to unmake cities. This was partly through trying to reverse certain aspects of historical trajectories of urban modernity, and partly through trying either to remove or reconstitute urban citizens who had consistently aligned themselves with the opposition in elections or who were viewed, as Dorman (2016) notes, as “unproductive.” These constituencies were not only a challenge to Zanu PF’s long political domination, but also to its grounds for legitimacy, which were attached to asserting the primacy of a certain kind of national citizenship. Within its increasingly narrow narrative of national belonging—linked to the national(ist) liberation struggle in which it had played a central role and drawing primarily on a rural base—forms of either autonomous or opposition-oriented “urban” citizenship that rejected the primacy of Zanu PF’s leadership were violently rejected (Raftopoulos 2007; Ranger 2004).…”

Politics, Centralisation and Service Delivery in Urban Zimbabwe

“…8 Sara Rich Dorman argues that OM/RO shows the exclusionary nature of urban politics in Zimbabwean cities in which urban citizens are seen as 'politically unreliable'. 9 Second, urban politics is expressed through the use of informal and parallel structures to perform functions of local authorities. This strategy includes the use of political party structures and militia to control and parcel out urban land, and controlling and allocating flea markets to loyal ZANU(PF) supporters.…”