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Hardly a month after street vendors were swept off sidewalks and pirate taxis were driven off the Central Business District, the Harare City Council and the police are back where they started. The lesson: You can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results!

While illegal vending and pirate taxis are a critical pillar of the informal economy – more so during the prevailing trying times – the need to have order on the roads, adequate sidewalk space and clean environs outweigh the needs of a few. In any case, families who rely on such illegal operations are not being denied a decent living. The issue is about formalising their operations so that they can be relocated to more suitable areas.

This is why we find the incompetence of the City Fathers and the police appalling. Solving a problem of the 21st century requires a solution from the 21st century.

The challenge with the city and the police is that they treat every problem as a nail which needs a hammer. This is an archaic method of public administration which is probably more relevant in the ancient city of Athens than it is in metropolitan Harare.

The city and the police must swap the baton for the computer. An integrated system that includes the city, police, Zimbabwe National Roads Administration, Vehicle Inspection Department and Central Vehicle Registry is the long-term solution to the pirate taxi as well as the menace of registered public transport operators who use illegal pick-up points.

The logic is that all vehicles on the country’s roads are registered. They can engage in illegal activities but they are registered, and renew this registration quarterly. That is the starting point. Once registration is cancelled or denied, a vehicle can no longer move on the country’s roads. So instead of using road spikes, the police only need pen and paper to take note of registration plates.

The same applies to drivers, as they too are registered. It makes sense that kombi and taxi drivers who put the lives of many in danger should have their licences revoked. What could be more deterrent to a public transport driver than losing the one document which matters most?

Street vendors, on the other hand, need convenience. So give them what they need – convenient spaces. Vending booths, for example, are not only hygienic but are appealing to the eye. Registered vendors can rent booths from private companies or from council at convenient spaces. Who wouldn’t want to buy fresh fruit juice or salad from a neat booth at Africa Unity Square? Burgers, hotdogs, candy and ice-cream, food on the go.

The vending booths are working even in the most developed of countries. Locally, the EcoCash vending booths are a good example of this eco-friendly solution.

There are many other solutions to the challenges facing the city and the Sunshine City status can be restored. Stakeholders need to convene and learn from those who are already doing it. There is no need to re-invent the wheel.

This cat and mouse or Tom and Jerry business must come to an end. It’s the 21st century for goodness sake!