Online Reporter
MacDenias Moyo
The pronouncement by Local Government Minister Daniel Garwe to clean up Harare must be understood not as a dismissal of citizen concerns, but as an affirmation of a listening and caring Government.
The uproar from vendors is not noise. It is the voice of citizens who seek livelihood.
Yet Government, under the stewardship of President Mnangagwa, has demonstrated time and again that it listens, that it cares and that it acts in the long‑term interest of the nation.
The clean‑up operation is therefore not a war against vendors. It is a re‑ordering of urban life. It is an invitation to vendors to apply for empty spaces that can be transformed into large, properly planned marketplaces.
These marketplaces will not only provide vendors with secure trading environments, but will also create hubs where citizens can visit, shop and interact in dignity. This is the architecture of order. This is the foundation of cleaner and smarter cities.
Order is the cornerstone of governance. President Mnangagwa has consistently declared that Zimbabwe is open for business and that the Second Republic is anchored on discipline, accountability and modernisation.
Disorder in the urban sphere undermines this vision. It signals lawlessness to investors, erodes confidence in governance and diminishes the dignity of the citizenry.
The World Bank has acknowledged Zimbabwe’s progress in stabilising its economy. The African Development Bank has praised the country’s infrastructure drive.
The African Union has commended Zimbabwe’s commitment to citizen participation. These testimonies confirm that the Government does not dismiss voices. It channels them into constructive frameworks. Minister Garwe’s pronouncement is a continuation of this trajectory, ensuring that the physical environment of our cities mirrors the economic stability that international organisations now acknowledge.
Economics thrives in environments of order. The International Monetary Fund has emphasised the importance of infrastructure and urban management in attracting investment.
A city clogged with illegal vending stalls repels capital. Formal businesses suffer, tourists are discouraged and the flow of goods and services is impeded.
By dismantling illegal structures and relocating vendors to designated marketplaces, Government is not destroying livelihoods. It is protecting them. Properly planned vending sites allow for sanitation, security, taxation and regulation.
They transform informal activity into structured enterprise, enabling vendors to access credit, expand their businesses and contribute to national revenue. This is the economic logic that underpins the Minister’s directive.
Across the world, nations that have attained prosperity have done so by insisting on proper urban planning. In Singapore, hawker centres were established to provide vendors with clean, regulated spaces, transforming chaotic street vending into a celebrated cultural and economic institution.
In Kigali, Rwanda’s insistence on order and cleanliness has turned the city into one of Africa’s most admired capitals, attracting investment and tourism. In China, the regulation of street vending has been part of the broader urban modernisation that propelled cities like Shanghai and Shenzhen into global economic hubs.
In Kenya, Nairobi’s Gikomba Market thrives because it is a designated space where vendors can trade without disrupting urban order.
Zimbabwe cannot aspire to achieve Vision 2030, while tolerating disorder in its urban centres. Minister Garwe’s pronouncement is therefore aligned with global best practice. It is a recognition that vending must be accommodated, but accommodated within the framework of planning, not anarchy.
The Government has acknowledged the role of the informal sector in providing livelihoods. Yet it has also reminded citizens that rights must be balanced with responsibilities. The African Union’s Agenda 2063 speaks of the “Africa We Want” as one where cities are engines of growth, not cesspools of disorder. Citizens must therefore cooperate with law enforcement, not resist it.
The United Nations Habitat programme has consistently emphasised that sustainable urban development requires citizen participation. The clean‑up operation is not an act of repression. It is an invitation to citizens to be co‑architects of cleaner, smarter cities.
Vendors are encouraged to apply for empty spaces that can be transformed into large marketplaces. These marketplaces will not only provide them with dignity, but will also create orderly systems where citizens can shop in cleanliness and safety.
Cleanliness is not merely aesthetic. It is moral. It speaks to the dignity of the people. Pope Francis, in his encyclical Laudato Si, reminded the world that care for the environment is care for humanity. A city littered with refuse and clogged with illegal stalls is a city that has abandoned its moral duty to its citizens.
Minister Garwe’s pronouncement is therefore a moral imperative. It is a call to restore the dignity of Zimbabwean cities, to ensure that the urban environment reflects the nobility of the people.
Vision 2030 is not an abstract slogan. It is a concrete roadmap. It demands infrastructure, order, investment and modernisation.
The National Development Strategy 2 has pillars on infrastructure, housing, digital innovation and urban renewal.
Minister Garwe’s pronouncement is a practical manifestation of these pillars. By restoring order in cities, Government is laying the foundation for smart cities, for digital commerce, for efficient transport and for sustainable growth.
The African Development Bank has noted that urban disorder is one of the greatest impediments to African economic growth. By confronting this challenge head‑on, Zimbabwe is positioning itself as a leader in urban renewal.
The uproar from vendors is not noise. It is the voice of citizens who seek livelihood. Yet Government has listened. It has cared. It has acted. It has provided a pathway for vendors to apply for empty spaces, to establish large marketplaces, to trade in dignity and to contribute to the creation of cleaner and smarter cities.
Minister Garwe’s pronouncement is therefore a progressive directive. It is not a rejection of vendors. It is a re‑orientation of their activity. It is a call to move from chaos to order, from improvisation to planning, from short‑term survival to long‑term prosperity.
Zimbabweans must therefore embrace this directive, not resist it. They must recognise that cleaner cities are not a burden. They are a blessing. They are the foundation of prosperity. They are the mirror that reflects the dignity of the nation.
President Mnangagwa has delivered and continues to deliver. Minister Garwe’s pronouncement is part of that delivery.
It is a courageous act of governance, a necessary intervention to align the physical environment of our cities with the economic aspirations of Vision 2030.
