Council announces umpteenth operation to deal with vendors in CBD, says serious campaign to start Wednesday evening

By Leopold Munhende

HARARE City Council will on Wednesday evening initiate, for the umpteenth time, an operation to flush out vendors from its central business district (CBD).

The latest showdown will, as has become the norm, be supported by members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) who have also been part of numerous failed attempts to rid Harare of illegal vendors in the past.

Speaking at the launch of a revenue collection blitz on behalf of acting town clerk Phakamile Moyo, housing director Addmore Nhekairo said they had agreed on the operation with the local government ministry.

“We had a meeting with the (local government) ministry on zero vending in the CBD whose operation starts Wednesday night,” said Nhekairo.

“This needs to be resourced so that it becomes a success. It is a serious initiative that will be supported by the ZRP.”

Government efforts to rid the CBD of illegal vendors and dirt, Operation Chenesa Harare, have failed to deal with the problem, compounded by Zimbabwe’s high unemployment rate.

Graduates are part of those selling food stuffs, clothes, vegetables, fruits and second-hand clothes on the streets of Harare as job opportunities continue to get scarce.

They are constantly fleeing from marauding council vehicles, which confiscate their wares and arrest them. These vehicles operate with impunity, disobeying all traffic laws to arrest elderly women selling tomatoes and young boys selling sweets.

Attempts to clean up Harare go back as far as Operation Murambatsvina in the early 2000s, with numerous more in between then and 2024.

Last year, health services director Prosper Chonzi confessed that the Harare City Council had failed to deal with illegal vending because of the state of Zimbabwe’s economy.

“The general economy is playing against us; we have been playing hide and seek after vendors, and it is not working,” said Chonzi.

“I am not happy with the vending situation in the city. It is plain against what we are trying to achieve.”