Government gives in as vendors resist order to clear out of CBD – Muguti ‘proposes’ times of operation

GOVERNMENT has fallen back on its words to completely remove vendors operating in Harare’s Central Business District (CBD) and instead ordered them to only sell their goods between 6AM and 6PM.

Local Government Minister Daniel Garwe launched Operation Chenesa Harare last week Friday, where he supervised council officers as they tore down vending stalls in Newlands.

The ongoing operation has however been resisted, with vendors maintaining a visible presence in the CBD unperturbed by his statements.

Speaking in Harare on Thursday, recently appointed Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government Tafadzwa Muguti appeared to be backing down from the initial, stern order and directed that they operate from morning to 6PM.

“With immediate effect, vending within all CBDs is now limited between 6AM to 6PM across all 92 local authorities,” said Muguti who was flanked by Garwe and Harare Mayor jacob Mafume.

“Vending within residential communities will be allowed from 6AM to 8PM, this includes high density suburbs.”

A glaring shortage of jobs has left between 70% and 85% of Zimbabweans surviving on the informal sector, selling vegetables, second hand clothes, cheap-Chinese-made electricals and shoes imported from Mozambique.

Vendors who spoke to this publication vowed to resist any attempts to flush them out citing Zimbabwe’s biting economic situation.

Speaking on a local radio station, Mafume they were prepared to remove all of them from Harare.

“The capital city is not a refugee camp, it is a place of business,” said Mafume in reference to vendors and an influx of street dwellers.

“This country is big, if you fail to stay in Harare because it is expensive, we have growth points and other smaller towns, even farms where they can move to.”

Garwe, Mafume and Muguti have found themselves at the receiving end of criticism from human rights activists and residents who remember the former promising them protection towards the 2023 elections.

They were also assured by Garwe that no government department or council would remove them as Zanu PF pushed for enactment of Constitutional Amendment Act No. 3 (CAA3).

According to Muguti some ‘113 by-laws are being modified to suit Zanu PF’s Vision 2030’ of an upper-middle-income economy with a gross national income (GNI) per capita of US$4,500.

GNI is the total money earned by a country’s people and businesses divided by its total population and latest reports indicate Zimbabwe’s stands at US$2,660 with its economic classification being a lower-middle-income economy.

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