Photos 38 and 39 [below] from busy settlement (2005) to empty landscape (2010)
Update 2010 This mining community has now completely disappeared. There is scarcely a sign that anyone ever lived here. The mining shafts are abandoned and overgrown, and there is no evidence of shacks for kilometers around in the surrounding bush. This community probably became victims of the late 2006 crack down on gold panners and small scale miners, called “Operation Chikorakoza”, in which many hundreds were rounded up and imprisoned. People were forced to fill in shafts manually, and tools were impounded by the police, across the nation. Situation seven Rural district in the Midlands Family of husband, wife and seven children Originally from Porta Farm near Harare Interviews: May 2010 This family with seven children had lived at Porta Farm, outside Harare, for many years prior to the total demolition of this settlement in June 2006. They lost a four bedroomed home, the wife’s shop, and the husband’s surgery where he practised as a traditional healer. They were forcibly taken first to Caledonia Farm and then by police trucks to Masvingo, and from there had to make their own way to the Midlands district where they had rural extended families. By June 2006, the husband was living with his mother in law, which is in the same village as an old, derelict homestead they had been given but had not moved into. The wife was living ten kilometres away from this village, running a shop. Two children were with her, the youngest and one child in Grade two, who was in school. There were signs that the marriage was under strain, even though the family was clearly doing fairly well financially, even being able to employ two people to help with the store. Update 2010 – still a success story The wife continues to live in this area, and seems very settled there with her children. However, she and her husband have divorced and he has gone back to Harare. The store has done well, and the wife is considering expanding the business and buying up other stores in
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