Chronicle EditorFreedom Mupanedemo Midlands Bureau
GWERU municipal police yesterday patrolled the city’s open spaces, rounding up residents cultivating on undesignated places, confiscating their tools, fertilisers and seed as it extended its clampdown on illegal activities to urban farmers.
Gweru city has since Monday been involved in running battles with street vendors, confiscating their wares as it sought to end chaos caused by vendors conducting their businesses on pavements and in front of shops. Yesterday, passers-by and motorists on the city’s roads were treated to free drama as municipal police got involved in running battles with farmers found cultivating land on roadsides and other undesignated areas.
Several urban farmers were not so lucky as they lost their hoes, fertilisers and other farming inputs to the baton- wielding municipal police. Gweru Town Clerk Ms Elizabeth Gwatipedza confirmed the crackdown on urban farmers, saying they had flighted an advertisement in newspapers some time back warning residents against cultivating on undesignated areas.
“We advertised and warned residents against cultivating open spaces as they are earmarked for development,” she said. “We are working on developing a new suburb, but residents continue interfering with our pegs.”
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