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Herald Reporter
INFORMAL traders operating under the banner of Green Trees Cooperative in Lochinvar, Harare, have voiced concern over a move by a city businessman to evict from the premises they are operating from despite the fact they are not within the latter’s property.
The traders are operating from a road servitude along Beech Avenue outside premises owned by Mr Admire Murema, whom they accuse of trying to force them out of the area they have been operating from, some of them for over 40 years.
A representative of the traders, Mr Peter Majegi, who has been running a welding venture at the premises for the past 25 years, said Mr Murema even had the temerity to cut power from the premises by tampering with Zesa infrastructure, an action which he said attracted a jail term.
“What we are experiencing here is very saddening because our Government has been talking about empowerment another black person is working to bring us down.
“We used to operate from his premises before he became the owner. Most of us have been here for more than 20 years.
“We had a long-term lease agreement with the previous owners and after Mr Murema bought the property, we continued to pay him rentals until he forced us out.
“We then moved to an area outside his premises but he is insisting that we move away,” said Mr Majegi.
Another informal trader said he had been operating from the space for over 45 years and it was the source of his livelihood.
Contacted for comment, Mr Murema said he could not allow the informal traders to operate from the road servitude in front of his premises.
“I bought this property sometime in 2016 and it had tenants. The ones who are now complaining. We signed a lease agreement for one year after which I asked them to leave as I wanted to develop the property for other business.
“They did not want to leave and I applied for an eviction order which was granted and the Deputy Sheriff duly evicted them,” said Mr Murema.
The traders insisted that Mr Murema was trying to evict them from a space which legally did not belong to him.
“He vandalised Zesa infrastructure and at law, such a crime attracts a 10-year jail term,” said Mr Majegi.
Mr Murema said it was his right to seek to remove the traders from the frontage of his premises.
Online Reporter