Confused children and their
distraught parents watched in bewilderment as their homes in Swaziland were
bulldozed to let a farm extend its sugarcane fields.
About 20 armed police
officers stood by at Embetseni in Malkerns to allow the demolition to take
place.
The families had lived in
the four houses for up to sixty years. A total of 61 people, including at least
30 children, were made homeless.
Amnesty
International, the global human rights organisation, commented, ‘Despite supposed protection by the country’s
laws, ordinary Swazis appear to be helpless in the face of forced evictions for
development purposes.’
Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty
International’s Deputy Director for Southern Africa, said, ‘This latest
demolition of homes exposes the grim reality facing many people in Swaziland
today. Hundreds have been forced from their homes in recent years to make way
for development.’
Amnesty said in a
statement, ‘According to international human rights standards, even where
evictions are deemed to be justified, they must follow due process. No one
should be left homeless as a result of the eviction.
‘The affected people were
not provided with any alternative accommodation, forcing some of them to take
refuge at a local school. Others slept in the open at the site of the
demolitions with their belongings, while some slept in a chicken shed. One
family slept at the Chief’s residence.’
The Swazi Observer reported on Monday (10 April 2018) ‘Piles of debris,
destroyed furniture laying askew on the ground and trucks loading furniture is
what welcomed the news team when they arrived at the four demolished homes at
Embetseni.
‘The demolitions happened
in the presence of armed police who had been called to keep watch to ensure
that the already tense situation did not boil out of control.
‘The four homes were razed
to the ground by a bulldozer sent by Umbane Limited, a sugarcane company
planted in the midst of the four homesteads.’
It added, ‘The bulldozer
flattened the four homes one at a time with their owners watching helplessly
and in utter disbelief.’
Gavin Khumalo, one of the
homestead owners, told the newspaper his family had been living there for six
decades.
Jeremiah Manana, Umbane
Limited’s Finance Manager, told the newspaper, ‘Those people don’t belong
there, we have wasted millions in court trying to solve this matter and a court
order allows us to take the actions that seem inhuman today.’ The High
Court made an order in July 2017.
Amnesty International said
it knew of at least two other imminent evictions in the Madonsa and Mbondzela
regions where the communities had been living under threat of eviction for
several years.
Mwananyanda said, ‘These
ongoing ruthless evictions plunge people into deeper poverty and leave them in
a hugely precarious position. When a person is thrown onto the streets without
any alternative accommodation, what are they supposed to do?
‘Swazi authorities must
halt these forced evictions, put in place legal and procedural safeguards in
line with international human rights standards and provide effective remedies
to all those who have been affected by forced evictions in the past.’
In its report on
human rights in Swaziland in 2017 /
2018, Amnesty said communities continued to be at risk of forced evictions. It
said, ‘Around 85 families in at least two communities faced imminent evictions
without being provided with alternative housing or adequate compensation.
‘Although the Constitution
prohibited arbitrary deprivation of property without compensation, in practice
the lack of legal security of tenure left people vulnerable to forced
evictions. In a judgment in April [2017], a High Court ruled that the
constitutional provision of compensation to evicted residents was limited to
evictions carried out by the state; residents affected by forced evictions
carried out by private actors were excluded from access to certain remedies.
‘In Madonsa in the Manzini
region, at least 58 families were at risk of imminent eviction after the Swazi
National Provident Fund (SNPF), a government parastatal, claimed ownership of
the land on which they resided. After a protracted seven-year legal process,
the High Court ordered in 2011 that the families be evicted without
compensation or alternative accommodation. They remained on the land at the end
of the year.
‘In Mbondzela, in the
Shiselweni region, 27 families threatened with eviction began proceedings
against a private company which sought to appropriate their land for the
development of a game park. On 19 October, the Central Farm Dwellers Tribunal
dismissed their case and allowed the eviction, ruling that the private company
should provide the residents with building material to construct homes
elsewhere.’
See also
COURT ORDERS HOMES DESTROYED
HOMES
DESTROYED FOR KING’S VANITY PROJECT
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2014/09/homes-destroyed-for-kings-vanity.html
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