The Zimbabwean government has deployed 3 000 paramilitary police as it begins an operation to demolish illegal settlements around Harare, state television reported.

On Thursday the television news showed a parade of hundreds of officers in full riot gear preparing to be deployed to demolish 25 illegal settlements in and around the capital.

Footage showed a bulldozer demolishing a house in one illegal housing settlement - Nyadzonia Housing Co-operative - whose owner "chose to ignore the warnings", the report said.

A police officer, who was interviewed, urged people living in illegal settlements to pack up and leave before police demolition squads arrived.

'That's a lot of people without shelter'

"We would encourage everybody to pack their own property, their clothing, their furniture before the police arrive," he said.

It is the latest in a campaign dubbed Operation Restore Order, which was launched last week to crackdown on illegal activities in the country.

So far, 17 000 people have been arrested countrywide.

Those arrested have been fined or taken to court for offences that include illegally dealing in foreign currency, hoarding of basic commodities and selling scarce goods on the black market.

On Thursday, police also announced they were beefing up police officers in each of Harare's suburbs that have seen violent clashes between police and traders furious over the destruction of their market stalls.

Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) lawmaker Trudy Stevenson said three truckloads of riot police had arrived in part of her constituency in Harare North yesterday evening and started to demolish houses in the informal settlement of Hatcliffe Extension.

"They - the police - are just razing everything," she said. "They're telling people to move off."

She said there were 10 000 to 12 000 people living in the informal settlement.

"That's a lot of people without shelter," she said.

It was not immediately clear how many people risked being made homeless by the imminent destruction of illegal housing.

Official statistics put Harare's population at 1.8 million, but the Combined Harare Residents Association said the figure is much higher.

Those residents who lose houses and have nowhere to go will be taken to a holding farm outside Harare, the television report said. - Sapa-dpa

• This article was originally published on page 4 of The Cape Argus on May 27, 2005

Published on the Web by IOL on 2005-05-28 14:23:00