BiAS 7 – The Bible and Politics in Africa
hensive and damning report following completion of the inquiry. Ac-
cording to Tibaijuka (2005), on 9 May 2005, with little or no warning, the
government of Zimbabwe embarked on a “crush” operation code-named
“Operation Murambatsvina” to “clean up” its cities. Popularly referred to
as “Operation Tsunami” because of its speed and ferocity it resulted in
the destruction of houses, business premises, and vending sites. An
estimated figure of 700,000 peoples in cities across the country lost their
homes, their source of livelihood or both while a further 2,4 million were
affected in varying degrees^13.
Most of the desperate victims of the operation were ferried and dis-
carded on a distant farm where the living conditions were brutish: hun-
dreds of thousands of innocent citizens to lethal living conditions in a
state with a derelict health delivery system was arguably the worst form
of immorality. Most of these victims lost their valuable property and
their access to education, heath, jobs and other forms of essential ser-
vices.
The government came under censorious criticism from many sections
of the society as the conditions of the victims evidently exacerbated. In a
move which was intended to save face, the government made a cosmetic
move to build houses for some of the victims under an operation code-
named “Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle”. Given the magnitude of the people who
were affected and the dire economic conditions in Zimbabwe, the gov-
ernment could hardly afford to build houses for even a quota of the
displaced people.
The 2008 Harmonized Elections
It is important for any government anywhere to respect the sacrosanct
right of the citizens to elect a government of their choice. According to
the New York Times of October 31 1990, the 19th century US President,
Abraham Lincoln, while a member of the US congress, made a passion-
ate speech on January 12 1948 with regard to the US invasion of Mexico
in which he said:
Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right
to rise up and shake off the existing government and form a new one that
(^13) Anna Tibaijuka, Report of the Fact-Finding Mission to Access the Scope and Impact of
Operation Murambatsvina by the UN Special Envoy on Human Settlement Issues in
Zimbabwe, 2005, 12.