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Nyasha Mlambo and Mazvita Chada
Illegal tuckshop owners and vendors in Mbare yesterday started trooping back to prohibited trading sites, two days after being removed by Harare City Council.
Council on Saturday began a citywide blitz to remove illegal traders in preparation for the urban renewal project to be launched by Government soon.
The illegal traders, who are not paying levies to council, defied the order and are back at their trading sites.
During a visit to Mbare by The Herald yesterday, vendors were selling groceries from their cars, while others resorted to spreading the goods on the ground.
Harare City Council spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme said there was no going back on the operation.
“We urge the vendors to go to designated sites,” he said. “If there is no space, we urge them to visit our Remembrance offices where we have a fully-fledged division handling that. They will be allocated trading sites from there.”
Interviewed traders said there was no space for them to sell their products at the designated sites.
“There is no space to accommodate all of us at the designated sites, so we are appealing to them to provide a bigger space,” said Mr Godfrey Mapfumo.
Mrs Vimbai Mutinha, one of the vendors, said: “It is a good initiative to allocate space for us at disgnated sites, though it has affected us as we had already established our clientele here in Mbare.”
Harare City Council aims to achieve world class city status in the next six years.
Online Reporter