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Antineliah Matope shows where she is now sleeping with her children

Charity Ruzvidzo Chronicle Reporter
A health disaster is looming at the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) owned Westgate compound where about 50 families that were evicted last week are still stranded and sleeping in the open.
The parastatal obtained a court order and with the help of anti-riot police and vicious dogs, evicted the tenants after a four-hour stand-off on Thursday.

A number of the families yesterday said they feared that there could be a cholera outbreak as they were relieving themselves in the bush.
Others said they feared their children would catch pneumonia due to the cold weather.

Chronicle visited the families yesterday and found them – including babies who are still suckling – camped in the open with sacks to shield them from the cold weather.

Antineliah Matope told of the hardship of sleeping out in the cold with children.
“I have four children who are doing grades Three, Seven and two others in secondary school. We have been sleeping outside since the eviction on Thursday. Toilets are also a problem, we are resorting to nearby bushes. NRZ should give us our money if they want us to leave,” she said, wiping tears with her hand.

Matope said the eviction was also affecting her daughter, a Lower Sixth pupil, who has since stopped attending extra lessons.
Her daughter, with tears rolling down her cheeks, said: “I am a Lower Sixth pupil at Methodist Vocational Training Centre, the eviction has greatly affected my studies I cannot read outside in the dark and cold. It’s also hard to concentrate with my mother crying as she struggles to find us somewhere else to stay.”

Pauline Chacha, another evicted resident, said NRZ was treating them unfairly after 35 years of serving the parastatal.
“New tenants have already started moving into the houses we were evicted from. The system is not fair, they are evicting families that served NRZ for 35-40 years, replacing them with people who have served the company for only 4 years and have one or two children to occupy a full house while we are out in the cold,” she said.

Chacha said a lot of property was lost or damaged during the eviction.
“Property was roughly thrown outside by the messenger of court who did not bother to carefully lift it in order to avoid damages. As you can see, I no longer have sofas and chairs,” she said pointing to broken chairs and sofa pieces.

She, however, said even with the harsh conditions they were facing, they were not going to leave the compound.
“We don’t care about the houses, we are more worried about the money the company owes us. As long as we are not given what we duly deserve then we will not leave this place because we have nowhere to go,” she said.

Efforts to speak to NRZ spokesperson Fanuel Masikati were fruitless as his mobile was not reachable.
The rail company handed its houses to its serving and former employees in areas such as Sizinda and Queens Park suburbs, but retained ownership of the Westgate properties, because they fall under a protected area as they are near some fuel tanks and other NRZ facilities.