Vendors defy ban, go about their business on Harare streets

By Staff Reporter

VENDORS in Harare went about their business without hindrance Friday afternoon and evening despite a recent government backed directive by council to have them cleared off the streets.

The Copa Cabana area, a hub for informal traders of food stuffs, phones and second-hand clothes was operational, with vendors seemingly oblivious to Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume and Local Government Minister Daniel Garwe’s statements that they had become a nuisance.

At the corner of Julius Nyerere and Nelson Mandela where traders of chocolates and biscuits are now congested, business continued as usual.

There was also no notable change at the Simon Muzenda (formerly Fourth Street) rank and Market Square.

Council this week announced a blitz to flush out illegal vending in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP).

The move was supported by government, with Garwe blaming the informal traders for a rise in crime, drug abuse and filth in central business districts (CBDs) across most urban areas.

“We will cross that bridge when we get there, at the moment we are just having to deal with the usual council officers who raid us and leave either after we pay them or after collecting enough,” said one vendor at Copa Cabana who refused to be identified.

Numerous past attempts by council and the police to rid capital Harare of vendors have failed.

At one point Health Services Director Prosper Chonzi admitted that City of Harare had lost the battle against illegal vendors, citing Zimbabwe’s biting economy as a major cause.

The high unemployment rate has seen even the learned opting to buy and resell in CBDs.

Foreigners, mainly from war torn regions of Mozambique have also joined the trade, focusing mainly on cigarettes and sweets. These youngmen, commonly referred to as Mano (Elder Brother) have added onto the growing list of illegal vendors on Harare’s streets.

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

Heavy handedness is expected as has been evident in past operations such as Operation Murambatsvina in the early 2000s when slums, illegal structures and vending stalls were razed down by both government and council.

Because of this expectation, National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) Commissioner Obert Gutu preached restraint, urging enforcers to realise that those on the streets were not there out of their own will but circumstances.

By late Friday evening, there was no evidence that municipal police and the ZRP had started their programme.