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Vendors displaying vegetables and fruits along Mbuya Nehanda street in Harare – Picture by Kudakwashe Hunda

The 48-hour ultimatum given to vendors and illegal taxi operators by Government on Friday to vacate streets in cities and towns expired last night. We expect vendors and pirate taxi operators to heed the order and stay away from the streets starting today.

But then, vendors and the pirate taxi operators have in the past proven they are a hard nut to crack. Several ultimatums were issued in the past, but we are still faced with the same problem, which has necessitated the latest call for these illegal operators to stop their activities.

Just last year in October, former President Mugabe noticed the menace caused by the illegal vendors and pirate taxi operators, and raised the red flag. The Joint Operations Command (JOC) made up of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services responded by issuing an ultimatum for them to move out.

They roped in the Harare City Council and the Environmental Management Agency. The vendors were chased away from the streets, much to the relief of Harare residents. But this lasted a day or so. They were back on the streets, this time in much large numbers. The situation was the same when former Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Ignatius Chombo issued a similar ultimatum in 2015.

The vendors heeded for a few hours, but soon they were back on the streets in full force. We are citing this background to reinforce our observation that removing illegal vendors and pirate taxi operators from the streets needs much more concerted efforts.

It is not a walk in the park, so to speak. We notice that while issuing the ultimatum on Friday, Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister July Moyo said the security forces would be roped in if the vendors fail to heed the call.

Our hope is that there is a top-notch strategy this time around to deal with the illegalities taking place in the cities and towns. The fight against illegal activities should not be a once-off operation, it should be sustained to ensure that it gets to the vendors that they are no longer welcome on the streets.

The vendors should be quick to realise that they are not being banned from vending. What the authorities want is for them to operate from designated points dotted around the cities and towns. In Harare, for instance, thousands of such vendors registered and were allocated market stalls at the designated sites.

Yet, they are shunning such places, preferring to cause havoc on the streets. Their argument that customers don’t patronise designated places does not hold water. If it was true, popular marketplaces like Mupedzanhamo, Mbare Musika and Magaba would have closed down a long time ago.

Operators at these marketplaces did not start on a high; they created places that saw people gradually visiting them in large numbers in pursuit of their products.

The crackdown on the vendors is necessary and long overdue, especially after they have blocked pavements and streets for such a long time. They sell anything ranging from pirated DVDs, clothes, vegetables, electronic gadgets, roasted maize cobs to even Viagra.

On the other hand, pirate taxi operators have caused serious problems like vehicle traffic congestion and loss of lives. But it is the city councils that should be much more interested in this operation. Their lackadaisical approach to such a menace in the past is mainly credited for the chaos we now face in city centres.