Online Reporter
Remember Deketeke
Municipal Correspondent
AT LEAST 300 municipal police officers will be deployed across Harare today as the city intensifies its crackdown on illegal vending and urban disorder.
The operation, which forms part of the city’s Chenesa Harare campaign, will begin at the intersection of E.D. Mnangagwa Road, formerly Enterprise Road, and Samora Machel Avenue before spreading to other densely populated areas.
Harare Mayor Councillor Jacob Mafume yesterday said the number of municipal police officers deployed could be increased depending on the situation on the ground.
“We are going to increase the complement of municipal police officers who will be on the streets tomorrow to about 200 or 300, or more should the situation require,” he said.
Cllr Mafume said the initial phase of the operation would be largely persuasive and peaceful, with vendors operating from undesignated areas being encouraged to relocate to approved trading sites.
“We are simply moving from phase to phase and emphasising the need for vendors to operate in an orderly manner and at designated places,” he said.
The operation targets illegal vending, congestion and other forms of urban disorder as the council seeks to improve the movement of pedestrians and vehicles and restore cleanliness in the capital.
Cllr Mafume said street vending was occupying space needed for traffic and pedestrians and undermining efforts to improve the ease of doing business.
The mayor defended council-designated vending facilities amid concerns from some informal traders that certain sites were poorly maintained or located too far from their customers.
He cited the Mbare market, saying it had modern facilities despite some traders continuing to operate outside the designated area.
“We have built one of the best markets in Africa, if not the world. The place has some of the best toilets, excellent storage facilities, proper lighting and good ventilation. Yet vendors prefer to sell outside,” he said.
Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe said the prevailing situation was inconsistent with the country’s aspiration of becoming an upper-middle-income economy by 2030 and the objectives of the National Development Strategy 2.
“The situation is no longer acceptable and it is no longer business as usual,” he said.
“His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, and this Government remain deeply concerned by the deterioration of urban order and the gradual erosion of the standards that should define our capital city.”
Minister Garwe said the intervention was not aimed at victimising vendors, formal traders or homeowners, but at restoring order in Harare.
“Let me state from the outset that this is not a declaration of war against vendors or formal traders.
“This is not an act of victimisation against anyone,” he said.
He acknowledged the role of informal trading in supporting thousands of livelihoods and the economic circumstances that had pushed many people into vending.
“We recognise that vending provides livelihoods to thousands of Zimbabweans. We also recognise the economic circumstances that have driven many people into informal trading,” he said.
“We also recognise the entrepreneurial spirit of our residents and the important role that small and informal businesses play in sustaining families and communities.”
Zimbabwe National Vendors Association (ZNVA) chief executive officer and executive chairperson Mr Abel Zvobgo said the association supported the directive and encouraged vendors to comply with designated trading arrangements.
“We resolved, as the leadership of the Zimbabwe National Vendors Association, which represents vendors in towns and cities across Zimbabwe, that our membership should comply with the Minister’s directive,” he said.
Mr Zvobgo encouraged vendors to stop returning to illegal trading sites and allow authorities to implement the directive.
