Harare in bid to regain its lustre

Primrose Nyanzero and Audrey Rundofa
Harare City Council has vowed to ensure sanity returns in the city and will engage law enforcement agents to ensure vendors leave the Central Business District forever. Vendors have mushroomed everywhere, selling vegetables, fruits and other wares on roadsides since a blitz launched recently which drove them out.

They are resisting orders by council and Government to relocate to designated vending sites outside the city centre. In an interview yesterday, Harare City Council spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme said council would engage business to ensure sanity prevailed in the city once referred to as “Sunshine City” because of its then high status of cleanliness.

“Now in the new era, we are coming in to make sure that Harare’s Sunshine City status is restored,” said Mr Chideme.
“We will work with law enforcement agents like we have always done to bring sanity and finality to the issue of illegal vending. Everyone now accepts that Harare has to move on. It has to move on in the direction of order and in the direction that brings confidence.” Mr Chideme said ridding the city of illegal vendors would help attract investment to Harare.

“Once the informal sector is at designated sites, it means that even the business person is confident to come and invest in the CBD because they know that their business will not be defiled by hordes of people trading outside their premises,” he said.

“We are also taking advantage of the new era to encourage business in the CBD to renew their properties.” Mr Chideme said businesses had a right to remove illegal vendors from their premises.

“The business community in the CBD must know there is a by-law that empowers them to remove people from the front of their business in accordance with the Roads Verges By-law,” he said. Mr Chideme encouraged vendors to operate at stalls established by council in the city.

“We have available sites which are there which are half empty. The stalls are there and we encourage people to go there. Our stalls are all over the city including in Budiriro, Glen Norah, Mabvuku, Tafara, Glenlorne and Chisipite suburbs,” he said.