Harare mayor Herbert Gomba has directed that all on-going
demolitions against vendors’ infrastructure be stopped and urged hawkers to
approach council for new trading sites.
This comes in the wake of the crackdown on illegal vending
by the army, the Zimbabwe Republic Police and municipal police officers in some
parts of Harare.
Addressing a Press conference yesterday, Gomba said council
was against forced evictions of vendors, but at the same time did not tolerate
illegality.
“All members of the informal sector who have been trading
at undesignated points and were removed from the illegal sites are advised to
visit their nearest district offices for space allocations. Taking up space at
approved trading sites will eliminate the demolition of illegal structures and
loss of investments,” Gomba said.
Council has identified new trading sites in Mbare at Tsiga,
Marowa and Stodart Hall and at Mutare Bus Rank. In the city centre, the new
trading sites would be at the Coca-Cola open space and the holding bay along
Coventry Road.
Last week, members of the military, together with police,
razed down market stalls across the city, with many vendors losing their
investments.
“We want people to be relocated to the designated trading
sites without force. We don’t subscribe to this notion of demolition before
allocation of an alternative place. So we want to deal with this issue,” Gomba
said.
“To complement our efforts, we are inviting stakeholders
with capacity to construct temporary and permanent vending infrastructure at
designated sites to approach council for space allocation.” Newsday
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