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Factmore Dzobo
“What good have you done us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is it not better for us to go back where we were enslaved and work for Egyptians than to lead us to die of hunger in the wilderness?” (Exodus 14 vs. 10-11).This scripture seems to capture the dilemma faced by former squatters who were resettled in Mazwi New Village, a few kilometres west of Bulawayo. After being removed from Killarney and Trenance squatter camps in September last year, the newly resettled families are saying they are now regretting because their lives are worse than what they were.
“It was better for us squatting. We used to survive on gold panning and doing piece jobs in the suburbs. Here we do not have any means of getting food or piece jobs to raise money for the upkeep of our families,” said Mrs Eunice Nkomo (65).
Staying in their newly-built two-roomed houses has become unbearable as the community is in dire need of food after being resettled in an area where day-to-day survival is a struggle as there is no source of income.
Most of the resettled squatters are considering returning to their former squatter camps where they used to survive on gold panning and doing odd jobs in return for groceries and money. Removed from their relatively well-off neighbours in Killarney and Trenance who at least had bits of food to throw away for their picking, the former slum dwellers are also missing their old life scavenging for food and tradables at refuse dumps.
The Mazwi community is hungry; needs proper health facilities and water.
“Mina mntanami sesibulawa yidlala lapha (My son we are dying of hunger). We used to eke out a living from Bulawayo’s dumpsite popularly known as Ngozi Mine where we could get dumped foodstuffs like potatoes, vegetables, tomatoes and many other foodstuffs,” said Mrs Sanele Ndlovu.
After living in filthy, ramshackle wooden and plastic shelters in the vicinity of the city for many years, the illegal settlers were very happy when the Bulawayo City Council in conjunction with International Organisation for Migration (IOM) announced plans to construct decent houses at Mazwi New Village for them. Their dreams to have a roof over their heads and a life without the threat of eviction had come true.
However, many of them have learnt that decent accommodation alone without enough food or any income is not good enough.
Mr Benard Mahlasela (61) said life has become difficult for him and his family after being resettled in the new village. He said his business of selling wares that he used to collect from Ngozi Mine in Richmond collapsed when he relocated to the new home.
“Now I am living far away from the city’s dumpsites. I used to stay near my customers in the city but things have changed after we relocated. At first I was so happy to have decent accommodation registered under my name, but little did I know it was going to be tough to survive,” said Mahlasela.
He said that life was better in the squatter camps as they used to have a source of income. He said he has since moved back to the city to avoid walking everyday from the village to Bulawayo’s dumpsites.
“I left my family in the new village and I now spend most of my time squatting with friends in the city while doing my business. Every Friday I go back to the village with something for the family,” he said.
The village co-ordinator, Mr Samuel Moyo said all is not well as the community is in urgent need of food aid. He said the area was not suitable for crop farming because it receives marginal rainfall.
“Life is not easy for many of us here. We are living in these houses without water or toilets. As you can see for yourself some still do not have toilets except these makeshift toilets we dug for ourselves. Water is also a problem. This area is not even suitable for farming as there are many stray animals that destroy crops,” he said.
Mr Moyo said while they were grateful to BCC and IOM for providing them with decent shelter, there was need to empower the community to enable it to produce food.
“Everyone is thinking of going back squatting in the city where they can be hired to do piece jobs and get some food assistance. We used to work for people in the city’s suburbs in return for groceries and money but due to the problem of the relocation we are no longer getting those helping hands.
We support the move taken by IOM and the Bulawayo City Council in providing us with decent accommodation but our big challenge is that we have no source of income. There are no jobs to do and what has worsened the situation is that NGOs that used to provide us with food have stopped,” said Mr Moyo.
In September last year about 200 homeless families from Trenance and Killarney squatter settlements were relocated to Mazwi New Village on the outskirts of Bulawayo. The Bulawayo City Council provided the land for construction of the houses.
Mrs Josephine Mumba (66) of Malawian origin said she received news of relocation with happiness but the delight has turned into misery.
“Together with my family we were happy to be resettled and have our own house as a family but little did we know that we were to plunge ourselves into abject poverty and destitution.
We are now surviving on exchanging firewood for mealie-meal and cooking oil in Old Pumula. We thought donors were going to continue supporting us but we last saw them during election campaign period. It was a better life near the city though we were illegal settlers,” she said.
Online Reporter