Harare assumed a refreshing new look yesterday after police
descended on illegal vendors in the central business district (CBD) where they
had become an eyesore after taking over virtually every available space on
roads and pavements.
The law enforcement agents managed to clear the streets during
the day, although defiant vendors resurfaced after 6:30pm along Robert Mugabe
Road, Jason Moyo Avenue, Chinhoyi Street and Simon Muzenda (formerly Fourth)
Street. Some of the vendors could be seen in the evening pushing carts loaded
with fruits and vegetables.
The few vendors were playing a cat-and-mouse game with
anti-riot police in the evening. They would run away with their wares on seeing
the police and return to their illegal sites when law enforcements agents would
have moved to other streets. The crackdown by the police follows a Government
directive on Wednesday for illegal vendors and pirate taxis operating in the
CBD to be moved to designated sites.
A survey conducted by The Herald yesterday showed that
police were heavily deployed in and around the city to ensure peace prevailed
during the crackdown, which also targeted pirate taxis. But some vendors would
hide their wares from the officers and resume trading once they were out of
sight. Pirate taxis continued operating in spite of the heavy police presence.
There were no incidences of violence recorded during the operation yesterday.
Harare City Council spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme said the operation was
going on well.
“We are progressing very well and there is peace and
tranquillity,” he said. “There is order and no resistance at all.” Harare
provincial police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Simon Chazovachii said
police would remain on the ground to ensure that peace and tranquillity
prevailed.
“Police are out in full force and they will remain on high
alert on the ground,” he said. “They are there to maintain peace and of which
today (yesterday) it was peaceful.
“We would like to urge vendors to comply with the orders
and they should move to designated vending sites.” Asst Insp Chazovachii said
they will continue monitoring some of the vendors who were playing cat and
mouse games with the police. Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers president Mr
Denford Mutashu applauded President Mugabe for stamping authority on the
clampdown on vendors.
“We would want to applaud His Excellency, President Mugabe
for stamping authority to clampdown on vendors after council had come out in
the open that they had failed to deal with the matter,” he said. Mr Mutashu
said between 2015 and last year, they had been lobbying for the vendors to be
removed from the streets. He said some of the vendors had been stealing goods
from shops, which they would then sell in front of the same shops at cheaper
prices. Some of the vendors, he said, were in the habit of defecating,
urinating and harassing pedestrians on the streets.
“I don’t know why Harare City Council had been waiting for
the President’s directive, yet they are the ones who are in charge of the
city,” said Mr Mutashu. “We would like to call upon for the sustainability of
this operation and it should not be a short term one.”
Mr Mutashu said with the operation, Government had created
an environment where people would operate their businesses in a conducive
environment. He said those operating pirate taxis should be removed from the
streets and that Government should come up with an efficient transport system.
Shop owners across the capital welcomed the Government-inspired campaign
against street vendors. A businessman running a footwear shop, Yerman Superior
Shoes, at the corner of Robert Mugabe and Julius Nyerere, who preferred to be
identify by his last name Patel, welcomed the Government decision to rid the
city of vending.
“How filthy is the city?” he said. “Where do these vendors
go to relieve themselves when they are hard-pressed? These questions alone
provide you with answers.” Mr Patel said on the other hand he sympathised with
the vendors who were trying to eke-out a living through honesty means, but the
city needed to be clean.
“I think you need to walk in the streets and smell the
stench,” he said. “It is not nice at all. It is no longer the sunshine city. It
is now a dump site city.” A manager at a plastic ware shop along the same
street, Mr John Magiya said: “The vendors are selling their wares in front of
our shops, blocking our customers’ way into the shops. They are killing our
business. They should go away.” But some vendors described the campaign against
vending as a devastating blow for their suistainence. Mbuya Rutendo, a seasoned
vendor from Epworth, said she had been in the vending business throughout her
life.
“It is survival of the fittest,” she said. “We will
continue playing cat and mouse game with the law.” A pirate taxi driver Thomson
Chigora said he needed to fend for his family, hence he would not be deterred
with the latest development. My brother, it is sad that we are striving to do
the wisest and normal thing and we are now being arrested,” he said. Most
motorists who spoke to The Herald welcomed the decision to push kombi and
mushika-shika operators to designated sites, saying this will enable a free
flow of traffic.
Addressing journalists on Wednesday during a Joint
Operations Command (JOC), Harare Metropolitan Provincial Affairs Minister
Miriam Chikukwa bemoaned the deplorable state of the capital and directed that
all illegal vendors and pirate taxis be moved to designated sites with
immediate effect.
The briefing was attended by representatives of the
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF), Zimbabwe Prisons
and Correctional Services (ZPCS), and officials from the Harare City Council
(HCC) and the Environment Management Agency (EMA). herald
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