Miloon Kothari, who is a U.N. expert on the right to adequate housing, said today (Friday) the evictions are what he called a "new form of apartheid," where the rich and poor are being separated.
He says so far an estimated 200 thousand people have been evicted mainly from the capital, Harare. He says the vast majority have been left homeless.
Police say the evictions are part of a clean-up campaign to rid cities of illegal shacks and makeshift market stalls. They say the buildings have become hubs of crime, where people trade in drugs, foreign currency and scarce food.
Zimbabwe is facing an economic recession with 70 percent of the population unemployed and many people living in shantytowns.
Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.