The Sunday Mail
Tendai Chara and Fatima Bulla
Last week’s destruction of illegal vending structures by councils has elicited mixed reactions but stakeholders are generally agreed it was necessary to fight the highly contagious novel coronavirus.
Cabinet recently resolved that local authorities had to take advantage of the ongoing Covid-19-induced national lockdown to clean up towns and cities. The Ministry of Local Government and Public Works then instructed local authorities as such.
The councils were also directed to construct or renovate workspaces where informal traders and small business would now operate from. The councils were given until the end of the lockdown to ensure more hygienic stalls were in place.
In Harare, illegal stalls in Mbare, Highfield, Glen Norah and Glen View were destroyed drawing ire from the vendors. The demolitions are still ongoing in the capital and elsewhere.
Vendors had over the years put up structures in any open spaces where second-hand clothes, shoes,vegetables and fruits, and other household wares were being sold as many joined the informal sector.
Previous efforts to relocate the vendors hit a brickwall as they found their way back to the open spaces claiming these were closer to their customers.
The ensuing cat-and-mouse game has seen the vendors enjoying the upper hand but the script has now changed.
Chitungwiza and other urban centres across the country also took heed of Government’s call and destroyed market stalls at shopping centres and other open spaces.
The exercise has not only left most urban centres with a fresh and neat look, but has resulted in the mostly MDC-run councils setting aside their political differences with Zanu-PF to complement Government efforts in fighting the marauding coronavirus and bringing back sanity to the informal sector.
However, there are a number of issues that the vendors want addressed.
In interviews with this publication, vendors in Mbare, Highfield, Glen View and Budiriro called upon Government to address “very critical” issues.
After being driven from her stall in Highfield, Mrs Memory Ndihana is anxiously waiting to be moved to a designated site.
“Vending has always been part of my life. It is my only source of livelihood. We do not know when or where we will be moved to. The anxiety has left me a bit depressed,” said Mrs Ndihana, oblivious of the danger she was spared.
Harare City Council spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme could not give specific timelines for the relocation of the affected vendors.
“This is an ongoing process and I cannot give specific timelines. As you might be aware, work has already begun on some of the sites where the vendors will be relocated. As of now, we are concentrating more on the destruction of illegal structures as we seek to take advantage of the lockdown,” Mr Chideme said.
He, however, said renovations had already commenced at the “Coca-Cola” grounds along Seke Road and at Chishawasha.
In Glen View some vendors milling around Glen View Area 8 complex had no kind words for the city fathers, whom they accused of double standards.
“All along we have been paying US$5 to council and we were given the false impression that everything was being done above board.
‘‘We were shocked to see the same council destroying structures that it encouraged us to construct,” said Mr John Makotamo, a vendor.
However, Harare Mayor Councillor Herbert Gomba advised vendors to avoid dealing with space barons whom he blamed for milking the vulnerable.
“As council, we are not collecting rentals from illegal vendors. My plea to vendors is that they must stop paying cash to space barons and work with council officers. What baffles me is that the vendors have, in the past 10 years, been duped by space barons,” Cllr Gomba said.
According to council, vendors that used to operate from Machipisa and the Glen View Area 8 complex were losing money to these barons who charged a “fortune” for the vendors to keep their stalls.
Cllr Gomba said the coronavirus has acted as a unifying factor.
“This disease affects everyone and knows no political affiliations. We are, therefore, working closely with the Provincial Minister for Harare, Cde Oliver Chidawu,” he said.
Illegal vending has always been a ticking time bomb for many urban settlements. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, Government should be applauded for taking a stance that safeguards the lives of its citizens.
