ZIMBABWE: The Zimbabwean government's controversial "clean-up" campaign has been widened to include rural areas as well as many prosperous city suburbs across the country.
For the past month, the police and army have concentrated their efforts on destroying thousands of informal settlements and flea markets in poor suburbs located on the outskirts of urban areas in a campaign which has been labelled Operation Restore Order by President Robert Mugabe.
In a new development, however, Zimbabwe intelligence minister Didymus Mutasa told the media recently that the government was compiling lists of former white farms from where "illegal settlers" would also be evicted.
Mr Mutasa, in charge of land reform, said police had already evicted 50 families from Lowdale farm in Mazowe district, adding that more black families regardless of political affiliation would be thrown out of farms in the coming days if they did not have documentation to prove they were settled there by the government.
"Yes, farms are our next target," Mr Mutasa said. "Responsible government departments are drawing up lists of people to be removed and the farms that we will target. We are not looking at party affiliation. Even if they voted for Zanu PF they will still be removed if they don't have the necessary documentation supporting their stay."
All the black families on former white farms were either settled there or openly encouraged by the government to occupy the farms following the land invasions that began in 1999.
The settlers could well see the planned removals as the ultimate betrayal by a government which even provided free transport to white farms at the height of land seizures five years ago.
Zimbabwe's state-run newspaper, the Herald, has reported that police also intend to move through rich urban suburbs across the nation where they will target "illegal property developments" and houses that have been turned into offices.
Police spokesman Whisper Bondayi said: "We cannot stand aside while people run out of accommodation when houses are being turned into offices." He confirmed Operation Restore Order would now move to the better-off northern suburbs of the capital.
The opposition party MDC, the Movement for Democratic Change, has continuously rubbished government's claims that the campaign is designed to clean up urban areas and eradicate black-market trading.
The MDC maintains the harsh measures are designed to punish the country's urban poor for voting against the ruling Zanu-PF party - the Zimbabwean African National Unity Patriotic Front - in the recent general election. According to the UN, the government's activities have left between 200,000 and 1.5 million people homeless at the onset of winter.
The US State Department has accused Zimbabwe's government an "obscene" tragedy. State department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said: "It defies explanation, but it's clear that it's wrong and that it's objectionable and that it's condemnable."