Gibson Jama Sibanda 1944 – 2010

Gibson Sibanda

Gibson Sibanda

Gibson Jama Sibanda was born in Filabusi in 1944, a year before the momentous strike on the Railways in what was then Southern and Northern Rhodesia in 1945, a sector in which Sibanda would learn and develop the trade unions skills that would serve him so well in later years. He attended Mzinyathini Primary in Esigodini district, and Tegwane Secondary, where he attained his ‘O’ level certificate. In later years he advanced his educational level through the attainment of a Diploma from the J.F.Kennedy School of Government, at Harvard University.

In 1969 Gibson Sibanda married Ntombizodwa in 1969, and they raised four children, Sibongile, Thandiwe, Mbuso and Zanele. His beloved Zodwa, who passed away in 2003, was a political and human rights activist in her own right. (Read more…)

Thu, August 26 2010 » Press Releases » Leave a comment

A Fractured Nation: Operation Murambatsvina – five years on

Killarney children - July 2010

In Bulawayo’s informal settlement of Killarney, some families have been evicted again, in July 2010. These children contemplate an uncertain future.

In May 2005, the Zimbabwean government embarked on a massive, highly systematic programme of demolitions of all informal housing in urban and peri-urban areas across Zimbabwe. Combined with a total clampdown on the informal trading sector, including the destruction of official vending areas and confiscation of all wares, Operation Murambatsvina (OM), or “Drive out the Filth” caused direct havoc in the lives of millions. The sheer scale and thoroughness of OM set it apart from previous demolitions, not just in Zimbabwe, but in Africa. (Read more…)

Fri, July 30 2010 » Diaspora, Operation Murambatsvina, Reports » Leave a comment

Poverty on Top of Poverty

In May 2005, shortly after Zimbabwean elections had, once again, resulted in a questionable narrow “win” for Robert Mugabe’s ZanuPF, Operation Murambatsvina was launched. Ostensibly an urban clean-up campaign, Murambatsvina was widely viewed as a brutal weapon employed by government to break the backbone of opposition MDC support. Settlements, even those with erstwhile local government approval were bulldozed to the ground. Small scale industry and informal traders were burnt out. Thousands of urban families across Zimbabwe were rendered homeless, jobless – hopeless. (Read more…)

Fri, July 30 2010 » Operation Murambatsvina » Leave a comment

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