Homeless shelters destroyed

HARARE, June 15 (Reuters) - Harare authorities on Thursday demolished informal shelters and market stalls in a small settlement of about 150 people, leaving victims of last year's government slum crackdown homeless once more, a lawyer said....
On Thursday a human rights lawyer said municipal workers razed informal shacks at a Harare settlement housing people driven out of their homes in last year's crackdown. "These were makeshift shelters which were home to about 150 people. We had made a High Court application for an interdict on behalf of some of the residents but we were rather late," said the lawyer, who asked not to be identified....
Police and council officials were not immediately reachable for comment. Critics say a government rebuilding exercise to replace the destroyed homes has dragged on too slowly, leaving many of the victims facing a second Southern Hemisphere winter with inadequate shelter. Last month Zimbabwe rights groups criticised neighbouring countries for failing to condemn strongly the slum clearances, which they say worsened the lot of urban residents already facing rampant inflation, chronic food and fuel shortages and rising unemployment. Mugabe denies responsibility for Zimbabwe's economic crisis, and in turn blames it on a campaign of sabotage he says his opponents have launched as payback for his controversial drive to forcibly redistribute white-owned farms among blacks.