Demolitions of informal traders’ stalls at Mbudzi roundabout were temporally halted Monday after a suspected juju case at one of the stalls.
A mechanical failure of the bulldozer trusted to do the
work was blamed on juju, attracting multitudes of onlookers and giving some
traders time to unpack their wares.
One of the unregistered traders identified as King Irie
confronted the clamp down team led by municipal police when they reached his
stall.
He challenged the municipal police arguing why they were
also targeting people living with disabilities.
“You can’t destroy my property, at least show mercy on my
business. This is my only source of livelihood. This will not end well,” said
King Irie attracting wild cheers.
Immediately after the confrontation the bulldozer developed
a mechanical fault, before completing demolitions at King Irie’s spot.
Witnesses claimed they saw one young man splashing
traditional snuff at the bulldozer loader before disappearing into the crowd. The
bulldozer developed a mechanical fault, before completing demolitions at King
Irie’s spot.
H-Metro spoke to some of the affected traders, Jesman
Gumira, who said: “I have lost a lot of money most of my investment has just
been destroyed in my watch.
“I didn’t hear of the warning and I was going about my work
as any other day and had no time to unpack most of my things.”
A food vendor said her problems had just mounted. “I was
surviving off selling sadza to travellers and now they have destroyed my only
hope of earning a living.
“I have tried to get a proper lease with council but the
queues are too long and sometimes traders are turned away.
“There is no proper communication as to when the council
grants licences so I was just operating to fend for my family,” said Memory
Jumbe.
The ongoing demolitions came to effect on Monday through a
joint operation involving the Harare City Council, Chitungwiza Municipality,
Ruwa Local Board, Epworth Local Board, ZRP and Ministry of Transport and
Infrastructure Development.
The demolitions started on Monday targeting car sales and
unregistered informal traders Government is targeting unregistered informal
traders who are in the car sales, furniture, bricks, sand and quarry stones
business operating along road servitudes.
A final notice for the unregistered traders to vacate the
servitudes was ordered by Government last Thursday.
A similar clamp down was also conducted at Machipisa in
Highfield where police were targeting Mushikashika. H Metro
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