Taurai Kufa Mabhachi,

Most European visitors who visited Algeria during the colonial period found one distinct characteristic of most native Algerians; An empty gaze on almost their faces as a result of fear and hopelessness, deprivation and expropriation of land which they thought was their home.

Not far from the capital city of Harare, near the envisaged Cyber City in Mount Hampden, at Mount Hampden Farm is hone to dozens of citizens whose future in terms of habitation is uncertain.  In a county that has more than forty decades of independence from colonial rule, where the mantra “Leaving No One Behind” is being reinforced.

Sixty-seven-year-old Tom James of Malawian descent, resides at the farm formerly owned by a white commercial farmer known as Mr Hamish. The farm is home to James, his family and more than forty other households of former farm workers after the departure of Mr Hamish after the country embarked on the land reform programme in the year 2000 which was meant to redistribute land to previously marginalised and landless majority black population.

At Mt Hampden farm, these former farm labourers and their families are facing the tragedy of a possible eviction from the place that they have called home for more than four decades. The possible eviction comes as a result of the government of Zimbabwe’s plans to improve infrastructure in line with its Vision 2030 Agenda of turning the country into an Upper Middle Class Economy. The government has earmarked forty-seven (47) farms in the Mt Hampden area to be cleared of its human inhabitants in order to construct a Cyber-City.

Residents of Mt Hampden whose houses fall within the targeted farms are now living in fear of the inevitable evictions which could render them homeless as the government forges ahead with its envisaged program.

“I am originally from Malawi and I have been a resident at Mt Hampden farm since the time of white commercial farmers. Most of the families here came as farm workers during the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and the government needs to consider the historical background of how most of the farm workers and their children ended up here. If the government decides to evict us, it must identify a decent place to settle us preferably an arable land where we can do farming activities so that we can be able to sustain our lives,” James said.

As the planned evictions from the farm hangs on their shoulders, they dread the possible reality of having no place to go. Many of them have no other place to call home except these farms where they were born and have been working all their lives.

The government’s plans to build a Cyber City in Mt Hampden is a reality with a new Parliament already built and functioning. The government work in building a Cyber City is meant to happen in three phases. That is the creation of traction and development infrastructure as well as commercial, residential and industrial area forms part of the other phases, respectively.

The Ministries of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Local Government and Public Works Including Housing and Social Amenities are tasked by the government to coordinate the work closely with the affected families.

According to the Zimbabwe Sunday Mail of 10 March ,2024, the Chief Director (Spatial Planning and Development) in the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, Shingirayi Mushamba said a technical committee had been set up to oversee the clearing of farms ahead of the workers.

The Sunday Mail story did not specify where these former workers will be relocated. What is more worrying is the fact that the workers are going to be cleared meaning they are typically seen as unwanted elements in the zone in which the Cyber City will be constructed.

Residents in Mount Hampden now in perpetual fear of the unknown are appealing to the government to consider their plight as the evictions loom. A precursor to their removal is the exhumation of graves for some farm workers originally interred there. The exhumed persons will be now being reburied in Nyabira.

Zimbabwe has a legacy of not compensating displaced people clear examples are the Chigwizi and Kondondozi estate displacements, respectively. To this end, the Mt Hampden former farm workers fear for the worst given the previous nasty experiences of how other communities have been evacuated on the basis on development and were never compensated.

In February, 2014 when the Tokwe-Mukosi Dam flooded, after torrential rains pounded in Masvingo Province, a national disaster was declared by government. This resulted in the need to relocate over 20 000 people to Chigwizi transit camp.  Their relocation to Chigwizi transit camp presented a terrible reality of desperation as upon relocation each family was given 500g dried beans ,2kg flour ,2kg sugar ,2litres cooking oil ,500g salt, a packet of candles ,1kg Kapenta expected to last them for a whole week. The victims were subjected to squalid conditions and poverty especially when the average family had six children.

In 2004, 500 Kondozi Estate workers were left destitute and unemployed, when    Agricultural and Rural Development Agency (ARDA) took over the Estate at the height of land reform programme in Zimbabwe.

In these situations, the displaced people were subjected to squalid conditions not fit for human survival, without critical facilities such as schools, hospitals, shops and safe running water.

The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights noted cases of diarrhoea in Chigwizi transit camp and over 100 people treated of diarrhoea as a result of poor amenities.

Fifty-seven years old John Kamupoto,  a former farm worker at Mt Hampden farm says the government must inform the people in time for a possible relocation so that they are able to strategize ways to seek alternative accommodation.

“Our survival is hinged on business opportunities around Mt Hampden and we appreciate if the government can allocate us pieces of land in places nearer to Harare such as Nyabira which is not far from our places of work. We are also relying on employment opportunities arising from areas surrounding Mt Hampden some are gardeners and housemaids in adjacent suburbs like Westgate, Malborough, Mt Pleasant,” Kamupoto said.

Centre of Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) Director Farai Maguwu said they are not against national development, city expansion but are worried that it is happening at the expense of human rights violations particularly the right to shelter.

“Development must have a human face and it must be human centred. The pending Mt Hampden must abide with section 74 of the Zimbabwean Constitution that mandates displacement to happen after considering all factors like that most of the former farm workers came during the time Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and must be relocated to places with adequate amenities,” Muguwu said.

A United Nations, 2022 report on Habitant’s Global Institutions Plan on Solutions to Internal Displacement asserts that mayors and local governments should be at the forefront to ensure the integration of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), which includes providing adequate housing, securing tenure, basic services, and livelihoods.

“When well planned, cities have the potential to provide opportunities for IDP a dignified life while contributing to a sustainable and inclusive urban growth. Spatial planning approaches that integrate displacement challenges in urban development strategies have a positive impact on host communities and the displaced, which can improve social cohesion. When based on inclusive participatory planning approaches can give a voice to both IPDs and the most vulnerable amongst the host communities,” reads the report.

Fifty-three-year-old Edina Phiri says she as stayed on the farm her whole life as her father worked for Hamish the former farm owner who left 24 years ago and has nowhere to go and would expect the government to re-locate them to a place with better facilities like water, sewer reticulation, good road network and shopping centres.

Former Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) Harare East Member of Parliament, Allan Rusty Markham says proposed displacements of the former farm workers at Mt Hampden farm is a crisis that will leave the affected farmers on homeless and on the streets without compensation.

Markham says the government is taking over all these farms for the new city despite the absence of a resettlement plan for the former farm workers who have resided on the land for more than 30 years.

“There is no payment done for the land and there is no plan for the resettlement of the former farm workers despite them being there for more than 30 years. The people living there will be displaced and will find themselves on the side of the road just like what happened during the farm invasions in 2000, no one paid attention to the farm workers who were either left there with no employment or kicked off by the new farmer. The government is in no position to resettle those farm workers if you look at their past records when it comes to farm workers,” Markham said.

Property Rights and Title Deeds Executive Director of Advocacy Rejoice Ngwenya says the government within the confines of the law, the government is required to come up with a compensation plan before it can move the occupants.

According to Section 13 of the Constitution, ‘the State must put in place measures for the protection of rights of communities where developmental projects are taking place, including the right to be consulted in the formulation and implementation of developmental projects are taking place.’

While Section 74 of the Constitution provides for freedom from eviction.

“The law is clear; you can move citizens but compensation is required. Government owns land in urban and rural areas, so that’s not an issue. Farm workers have no title deeds, so any compensation is on humanitarian grounds,” Ngwenga said.