The Sunday Mail
This and That – With Soko Wezhira
Lo and behold – the capital city continues to deteriorate by the day!
Harare today is a far cry from the Central Business District that we grew up seeing as we walked back and forth to the bus termini from Queen Elizabeth Girls’ High School some years ago.
Then the city was revered and orderly. It was a capital city and there was pride in walking along its streets.
Traffic lights worked and roads did not have wide gaping holes in the centre, as is the case with Harare today.
But even more importantly, the CBD was exactly that. People were busy high up in the offices and banks were busy and bustling. The city was clean and orderly. What is this market-infected place which now occupies what used to be referred to as the Sunshine City?
I grew up being told about the importance of us being able to walk along First Street because of the ugly history behind First Street, with our parents and grandparents not having been allowed to venture into its pristine beauty as the colonial regime deemed all such good exploits as unworthy of the black folk. Thus as I grew up and walked along its length and breadth, taking in the beautiful streets, and well-displayed shop windows plus a restaurant or two to colour things up, I would relish in this thing called freedom which allowed us to enjoy the beauty of our city. When I was in secondary school, there were eateries along First Street where diners could enjoy their meals while seated outside, watching as shoppers went about their business.
This is common across other major cities, too. It is what is expected of the city centre. What is in central Harare today is not a city centre surely.
Soko Wezhira was shocked to find that on Saturdays, Harare streets basically turn into one big flea market where what everyone is doing is selling to the next person some cheap imports, usually clothes and electricals brought in from some cheap places.
Traffic on Saturday in Harare is a nightmare. Vehicular and human traffic runs into each other in the little spaces left by all the trading and vending. Even uptown has not been spared because there are no longer spaces where you do not see vendors selling while perched right in front of what was formerly some big shop employing hundreds of men and women.
They basically sell wares ranging from undergarments, torch batteries, toothpicks to all manner of trinkets.
How do we allow vending to take place right in front of shops that pay rentals? For a shop owner display is everything and many a customer that walks in to purchase is attracted by what they see on the display window.
Soko Wezhira literally decides that she must have something by how it looks on that mannequin while in the shop window. Those are the few times she actually shops locally as she believes that things are overpriced here.
But today, you will be lucky if you can see clearly a display window, which is not overshadowed by vendors. Anyway the rate at which the big shops are closing or leaving town to go elsewhere should not surprise us.
If we allow competition right in front of those who pay rent, what do we expect them to do?
Some are going broke and closing shop while many more are leaving the city for other more attractive options where their type of shopper will not hesitate to go. The city centre as it looks now has become a big market place. It is difficult to walk in town on a Saturday as we used to. Some families just used to stroll in town during weekends. It was pleasant to do that. Now you cannot do that because of all the jostling.
Everyone is selling something on the street. You also cannot navigate certain roads. The city is looking unsightly.
There are just tables upon tables and little shops upon shops. The only other things you see apart from this are fast food outlets which are opening up at the same rate vendors are mushrooming everywhere.
Have we become a people of just consuming? Do we still even care about the cities and what our children and their children will see when we are gone? Where are the city planners in all this?
Who is responsible for allowing typical low-end shops right into the centre of town where you have offices and banks and allowing them to sell their wares to the accompaniment of loud music which blasts from their radios?
When we were growing up, everything had its place. There were downtown shops where the noise from their radios could literally damage one’s eardrums. But in central Harare you had more exclusive shops and businesses, where everything was understated and classier. I would have assumed that renting space uptown back then was expensive. But today there is no real difference.
Who has said it is fine to turn Harare into a market place? This must be why places like Sam Levy’s Village and Avondale have become favourites for many businesses and shoppers.
In the city centre, one would be lucky to find a toilet. If one should find it, the big question would be if it would flush.
Thus you want to get into the CBD and get out as fast as you can.
Now Soko Wezhira understands all the talk about a new city. However, it will not happen overnight.
Surely those responsible for the city need to have some systems in place. Whoever said a big open market place in the city centre is what residents of this city need? Does turning Harare City into a huge flea market leave the Mayor of Harare and the Town Clerk proud of how they are running the city?
What is the Town Clerk doing anyway because under his watch, Harare has morphed into a huge tuck-shop?
Is there still hope for Harare or shall it become some huge shanty centre while we watch? May the real city of Harare please stand up?
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