Online Reporter
Remember Deketeke-Municipal Correspondent
THE Government drive to restore order in central Harare is being intensified, with illegal vendors, pushcarts and other unauthorised activities being moved out of the city centre.
The crackdown, code-named Operation Chenesa Harare, is being undertaken in partnership with the City of Harare. It will see informal traders operating from undesignated areas removed from the city centre and directed to approved trading sites, while municipal police are set to work on a 24-hour shift system to prevent the return of illegal activities.
Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe said the operation was part of a broader Government programme to restore cleanliness, orderliness and healthy living in Zimbabwe, and was not being undertaken merely in preparation for any forthcoming international event.
“People must go to designated areas, and this programme is not targeted for any major event that is likely to come, no,” he said.
“This is the life that we must now be accustomed to, of cleanliness, of orderliness, of reorganising. That is the new Zimbabwe now, and Harare will never be the same again from today going forward.”
Minister Garwe said the operation would move through the central business district, starting with Robert Gabriel Mugabe Road before extending to other streets.
“Tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, Friday, we are going to clear Robert Gabriel Mugabe Road. That road must be respected,” he said.
“Then we go to all other roads, Samora Machel Avenue, Julius Nyerere Way, Leopold Takawira Street, until it filters into the avenues, until the central business district is clean.”
Pushcarts, he said, would also be removed from the city centre, arguing that they were contributing to congestion and disorder.
“No to selling mangoes, oranges, clothes or shoes. No to plying in the central business district. And no to pushcarts in the central business district,” he said.
“Those pushcarts are contributing to confusion, to commotion, to traffic jams and many other ills. So, we want to deal with that ourselves.”
The Herald yesterday visited some illegal vending sites in Harare and witnessed vendors being unmoved by the Government directive.
As the day progressed more vendors were seen trickling into central Harare’s at the usual sites.
Minister Garwe said restoring Harare’s traditional “Sunshine City” status required both Government and residents to take responsibility for maintaining the capital.
“We want Harare to maintain its Sunshine City status, and that Sunshine City status can only be achieved if every resident in Harare plays his or her role in cleaning the city,” he said.
He said the Government would not be deterred by criticism of the clean-up programme, insisting that existing laws and municipal by-laws had to be respected.
He said the clean-up campaign will be extended beyond Harare as Government seeks to impose uniform standards of cleanliness and order across the country.
Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume said council was strengthening its enforcement capacity to ensure that illegal activities did not resume once municipal police officers ended their normal working hours.
“We have noticed that there is a lacuna where our police officers are finishing their work at 5 pm,” he said.
“We are going to institute 24-hour patrols and regular patrols around the city so that there will be continuous policing of the city 24-7.
“We must not restrict our municipal police to working during the day and all hell breaks loose after the municipal police knock off.”
The latest measures signal a tougher approach by Government and council towards the enforcement of urban by-laws, with authorities seeking to reclaim public spaces, restore trafficability and improve cleanliness in the capital as part of the broader drive towards improved local authority service delivery.
