Index Investing News
Saturday, May 10, 2025
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Home
  • World
  • Investing
  • Financial
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Stocks
  • Crypto
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
  • Home
  • World
  • Investing
  • Financial
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Stocks
  • Crypto
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
Index Investing News
No Result
View All Result

Homeless Families Now a Growing Issue in Zimbabwe — Global Issues

by Index Investing News
January 5, 2024
in World
Reading Time: 6 mins read
A A
0
Home World
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


Gladys Mugabe (69) lives with her disabled son in Harare Gardens, a well-known recreational park in the Zimbabwean capital. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS
  • by Jeffrey Moyo (harare)
  • Thursday, January 04, 2024
  • Inter Press Service

HARARE, Jan 04 (IPS) – It is do or die on the streets of Zimbabwe as homeless families battle for survival solely depending on begging. Such is the life of 69-year-old Gladys Mugabe, who lives with her disabled son in Harare Gardens, a well-known recreational park in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare.

Over the decades, Zimbabwe’s economy has underperformed. It started in 2000 with the departure of white commercial farmers, and the country has experienced subsequent periods of hyperinflation, which the International Monetary Fund estimated reached 172% in July last year.

ISS Africa estimates that two out of five Zimbabweans were living in extreme poverty (living on less than US$3.20 per day) in 2019, and although this “poverty rate of nearly 45% is projected to decline to 20% by 2043, 4.7 million Zimbabweans will be living in extreme poverty on the current path.”

Many, like Mugabe, find themselves in their open-air dwellings, and it would seem that being homeless has become a perpetual crisis.

Trynos Munzira, a 43-year-old vendor in Harare, feels that the homeless have moved into the area, making it unsafe for regular people like him to visit the streets and parks.

“People of my age—the 43-year-olds, the 44s—we used to frequent recreational parks, wiling away time, but nowadays it’s impossible because the homeless are all over the parks, contaminating the parks, and there in the parks, they just relieve themselves anywhere,” Munzira told IPS.

Another Harare resident, 33-year-old Nonhlanhla Mandundu, said: “We have suffered because of homeless people who are picking left-over food containers from rubbish bins and leaving these on the streets; they have no toilets because all the toilets in towns are paid for, and so they relieve themselves all over town and urinate anywhere.”

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s countrywide housing shortage is estimated at 1,25 million units, translating to a national backlog of five million citizens, or over 40 percent of the total population.

As such, more than 1.2 million Zimbabweans remain on the government’s national housing waiting list.

But this list is not likely to include everybody, like 21-year-old David Paina, an orphan who fled from his foster parents due to abuse. He moved to the streets for safety.

“I started living here in Harare Gardens in 2012. What drove me here was the abuse I faced living with people who were not my parents. I am just crying for help from well-wishers so that I may do better in life,” Paina told IPS.

Yet authorities in the Zimbabwean regime often don’t address the situation of the homeless.

“I left the housing ministry. I am no longer allowed to talk about such issues,” July Moyo, the current Zimbabwean Minister of Local Government, told IPS.

As authorities like Moyo evade accountability, more than two decades after the land reform program here, homeless families have turned out to be a growing issue in every town and city.

Some teenage parents and their children also find themselves on the streets. Although the method of their relocation varies, they frequently experience eviction, move from door to door, find lodging with family and friends, and eventually end up living on the streets where they don’t need to pay rent.

Baba Ano (19) said he started his family on the streets of Harare not so long ago.

In cold and heat, these homeless families find life tough and uncertain, yet they have no choice except to soldier on.

“I came here in October last year. The rain has been pounding me all this time in the open here. Up to now, I am still living here. I am looking for help with accommodation. I have my son, who is disabled, staying with me,” Mugabe told IPS.

There are no official statistics from the country’s Ministry of Social Welfare documenting the number of homeless families.

Local authorities have acknowledged the homelessness crisis that has gripped many Zimbabweans but don’t seem to have any ready answers.

“It’s true we have a problem of homeless people in Harare—in Harare Gardens, Mabvuku Park, Budiriro, Mufakose, Mabelreign, and several others—all these parks have been taken over by homeless families. People are living in the streets and waking up every day, breaking up water pipes to access water, digging holes on the ground to trap water for bathing, and they bathe right there,” Denford Ngadziore, an opposition Citizens Coalition for Change Ward 16 councilor in Harare, told IPS.

Stanely Gama, the Harare City Council spokesperson, said, “We have homeless people for sure who live in parks like Harare Gardens, Mabelreign, and Africa Unity Square. We always do operations to remove them, but we don’t know where they come from, and each time they are removed, they always come back. This is a case to be better handled by the government’s Social Welfare Department.”

But lack of housing may not be the only factor that has rendered many Zimbabweans homeless, according to human rights activists.

Some may be ex-convicts who struggle to return to society.

“People who stay on the streets or in recreational parks are young children and adults—as young as 10. Some of the homeless adults living on the streets are ex-convicts who could not find acceptance with their relatives back home, forcing them to live on the streets and in recreational parks because they have nowhere to go,” said Peace Hungwe, founder of PeaceHub Zimbabwe, an organization that handles mental health cases in Harare.

While the authorities dither, Mugabe counts her losses.

“Where I used to stay, the plot of land was sold, and my belongings were burned in the house in which I used to live. Nothing was saved of all the things I worked to generate for the past 25 years. I am now just a nobody; the things you see gathered here are my only belongings in this world.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
Follow IPS News UN Bureau on Instagram

© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

Where next?

Related news

Browse related news topics:

Latest news

Read the latest news stories:

  • Homeless Families Now a Growing Issue in Zimbabwe Thursday, January 04, 2024
  • There Is No Democracy Without Gender Equality Thursday, January 04, 2024
  • World News in Brief: Griffiths demands end to ‘ruinous’ Sudan conflict, Ukraine-Russia prisoner exchange, Iran bombings latest Thursday, January 04, 2024
  • Stories from the UN Archive: Stevie Wonder’s boost for World Braille Day Thursday, January 04, 2024
  • First Person: Christmas under rocket attack in Ukraine Thursday, January 04, 2024
  • Flagship economic report highlights why global cooperation is key Thursday, January 04, 2024
  • Gaza crisis deepens as UN aid convoys face delays and obstacles Thursday, January 04, 2024
  • Will the Human Rights Movement Survive the Gaza War? Wednesday, January 03, 2024
  • Fear as Russian Anti-LGBT Law Comes into Effect Wednesday, January 03, 2024
  • The price of peace and development: Paying for the UN Wednesday, January 03, 2024

In-depth

Learn more about the related issues:

Share this

Bookmark or share this with others using some popular social bookmarking web sites:

Link to this page from your site/blog

<p><a href="https://www.globalissues.org/news/2024/01/04/35688">Homeless Families Now a Growing Issue in Zimbabwe</a>, <cite>Inter Press Service</cite>, Thursday, January 04, 2024 (posted by Global Issues)</p>

… to produce this:

Homeless Families Now a Growing Issue in Zimbabwe, Inter Press Service, Thursday, January 04, 2024 (posted by Global Issues)





Source link

Tags: familiesglobalGrowingHomelessIssueIssuesZimbabwe
ShareTweetShareShare
Previous Post

Al Sharpton defense of Claudine Gay is a moronic race hustle

Next Post

Average long-term mortgage rates edge higher, snapping 9-week slide

Related Posts

Watch shock second couple cheat loss of life as they fall off 5,000ft mountain whereas taking dangerous shortcut to keep away from queue

Watch shock second couple cheat loss of life as they fall off 5,000ft mountain whereas taking dangerous shortcut to keep away from queue

by Index Investing News
May 10, 2025
0

THIS is the heart-stopping second a pair cheats loss of life after they come inches from tumbling down an enormous...

The Newest: Pakistan says India fired missiles at air bases contained in the nation and Pakistan responds

The Newest: Pakistan says India fired missiles at air bases contained in the nation and Pakistan responds

by Index Investing News
May 10, 2025
0

State-run Pakistan Tv stated Saturday that retaliatory assaults are underway after India fired missiles at three air bases inside Pakistan....

James Foley, director of Glengarry Glen Ross, useless at 71

James Foley, director of Glengarry Glen Ross, useless at 71

by Index Investing News
May 10, 2025
0

James Foley, a journeyman director finest identified for Glengarry Glen Ross, has died. He was 71.   He died earlier this week...

US, Iran to carry new nuclear talks on eve of Trump journey

US, Iran to carry new nuclear talks on eve of Trump journey

by Index Investing News
May 9, 2025
0

America and Iran will maintain a brand new spherical of nuclear talks Sunday in Oman, officers mentioned, simply forward of...

Immortal Regiment honors Soviet WWII veterans beneath tight police watch in Berlin (VIDEOS) — RT World Information

Immortal Regiment honors Soviet WWII veterans beneath tight police watch in Berlin (VIDEOS) — RT World Information

by Index Investing News
May 9, 2025
0

Soviet flags and symbols have been banned at memorials marking Nazi Germany’s defeat Lots of of individuals took to the...

Next Post
Average long-term mortgage rates edge higher, snapping 9-week slide

Average long-term mortgage rates edge higher, snapping 9-week slide

Inside disgraced ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius’ jail cell with family photos & prayer pillow as he’s set for release

Inside disgraced ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius’ jail cell with family photos & prayer pillow as he’s set for release

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RECOMMENDED

Apple, Huawei likely to aid rebound in smartphone shipments in 2024: Counterpoint

Apple, Huawei likely to aid rebound in smartphone shipments in 2024: Counterpoint

March 29, 2024
Julian Assange loses permission to enchantment at UK’s prime courtroom

Julian Assange loses permission to enchantment at UK’s prime courtroom

March 14, 2022
Shawbrook makes offer for Co-op Bank, eyes fresh Metro Bank bid –sources By Reuters

Shawbrook makes offer for Co-op Bank, eyes fresh Metro Bank bid –sources By Reuters

October 8, 2023
Economists See Frontloaded Fee Hikes Amid Alarm Over Inflation

Economists See Frontloaded Fee Hikes Amid Alarm Over Inflation

May 19, 2022
The Market’s Response to the July Client Value Index Report –

The Market’s Response to the July Client Value Index Report –

July 15, 2022
SEC Chair’s Dire Crypto Warning: 1000’s Are Doomed to Fail

SEC Chair’s Dire Crypto Warning: 1000’s Are Doomed to Fail

January 14, 2025
Brazilian president’s former lawyer takes seat as Supreme Court justice

Brazilian president’s former lawyer takes seat as Supreme Court justice

August 3, 2023
MiB: Melissa Smith, co-Head of Business Banking at JPMorgan

MiB: Melissa Smith, co-Head of Business Banking at JPMorgan

February 28, 2025
Index Investing News

Get the latest news and follow the coverage of Investing, World News, Stocks, Market Analysis, Business & Financial News, and more from the top trusted sources.

  • 1717575246.7
  • Browse the latest news about investing and more
  • Contact us
  • Cookie Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • DMCA
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • xtw18387b488

Copyright © 2022 - Index Investing News.
Index Investing News is not responsible for the content of external sites.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • World
  • Investing
  • Financial
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Stocks
  • Crypto
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion

Copyright © 2022 - Index Investing News.
Index Investing News is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In