HUMAN rights lawyers have condemned the recently halted demolition of houses and eviction of some Zimbabweans from their ancestral lands as heartless and inhumane.
The Harare City Council last week demolished several houses in the city claiming that they were illegally built on council land.
The evictions were stopped following a directive from government.
There have also been evictions of other Zimbabweans across the country on allegations that they were illegally settled on State land.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) is representing some of the victims who were arrested and prosecuted for allegedly occupying gazetted land without lawful authority.
"The intervention by ZLHR in representing the villagers and through filing appeals in court challenging their eviction as an infringement of their right to freedom from arbitrary eviction guaranteed in section 74 of the Constitution, has saved them as High Court judges have set aside the evictions,” ZLHR said in a statement.
ZLHR said it was worrisome that both central and local governments did not follow the dictates of the law in executing evictions.
"ZLHR does not support lawlessness in occupying land, however, forced evictions have the effect of stripping affected families which include women, people with disabilities and children, of their constitutional right to freedom from arbitrary eviction and dignity and cause loss of livelihoods, life and property and, in turn, impacts basic social, economic, cultural, political and civil rights of several people.”
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ZLHR said it was incomprehensible that both local and central governments had chosen to undertake an infamous operation to forcibly evict and displace people without offering them alternative accommodation or shelter.
"The heartless evictions and displacements amount to inhumane and degrading treatment of citizens in contravention of guarantees contained in the Constitution and regional and international instruments to which Zimbabwe is a State party."
ZLHR implored municipalities and central government to immediately halt the forced evictions and ensure the protection of several internally displaced people and other vulnerable groups.
"Local and central government should wherever possible prevent people from constructing houses in undesignated areas than to wait for them to finish constructing and then demolish properties without following the due process of law."
Indications are that Zanu PF-linked land barons are behind the sprouting of illegal settlements in the country.
