Army, police team up to clean city

Walter Mswazie Masvingo Correspondent
Joint teams of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA), Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and municipal police have teamed up to curb the vendor menace in Masvingo City. Masvingo City Council has decided to restore sanity as the city had been overrun by illegal vendors.

Although initial campaigns managed to get rid of vendors who were trading at undesignated points, of late they had started trooping back. Masvingo Mayor Cllr Hubert Fidze yesterday said the army’s involvement was a welcome development that would help council in its quest to restore sanity in the central business district (CBD). He said the municipal police was plagued by problems such as shortage of manpower and vehicles that could be used to enforce the city’s by-laws.

“We are happy that municipal police operations are being complemented by soldiers and police. Since the involvement of these security services, our CBD has become free of illegal vendors and we want to hail our security forces for helping us bring sanity in the city,” said Cllr Fidze.

He said illegal vendors had started trooping back into the CBD by exploiting the situation that was obtaining after the Zimbabwe Defence Forces launched Operation Restore Legacy to defuse threats the country was facing.

A survey by The Herald this week showed municipal police, army officers, ZRP and plain-clothed security agents patrolling the streets of Masvingo. They were targeting illegal vendors. During his inauguration speech on Friday last week, President Emmerson Mnangagwa urged the nation to shun corruption. He noted that those caught on the wrong side of the law would be dealt with accordingly.