ABSTRACT:
The turn of the new millennium has witnessed the propagation of what can be termed state-sanctioned waves of self-induced Tsunamis in Zimbabwe. First was the controversial Fast Track Land Reform Programme that started in the year 2000, followed by the May 2005 'urban clean-up' campaign, code-named Operation Murambatsvina. Both programmes have resulted in unplanned mass migrations of people from urban centres to the country's rural areas and former white commercial farms. Zimbabwe's mass displacements and evictions have not been a pleasurable and relaxing experience at all. Violent demolitions of houses, destruction of property, loss of sources of income, breakdown of family ties, hunger and starvation have characterised the conduct of both the land redistribution exercise and the forced eviction of 'illegal' urban dwellers. The debates on the debilitating effects of these two programmes have so far been largely dominated by the media and political activists. Ideological bankruptcy, waning popularity and deep-seated economic quagmires, coupled with the emergence of a strong political contender, have been isolated as the crucial factors that have forced the government of the Republic of Zimbabwe to adopt a scorched-earth policy against its own citizens. This presentation, therefore, seeks to contribute an academic interpretation of Zimbabwe's self-induced Tsunamis. Of interest to the intervention of this statement is the extent to which these forced migrations have drastically transformed the socio-cultural fabric of Zimbabwe as affected groups and individuals seek innovative ways of survival. The contribution concludes by highlighting the crises of cultural innovations and economic survival strategies resultant from Zimbabwe's 21 st century project of self-induced Tsunamis.
