Fortious Nhambura & Christopher Charamba Features Writers
Relocation of vendors from the Harare Central Business District has again stalled for the second time. This time there was no extension of the deadline but somehow it has remained business-as-usual on the streets. The city council appears anything from ill-prepared to hesitant or reluctant while there is echoing silence from the ministries of Small and Medium Enterprises and Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.

No one seems aware of the way forward with vendors saying they are waiting patiently for city authorities to bring back order on the streets. Vendors say they were prepared to move as instructed and those who threatened to defy were malcontents who wanted to politicise the process of restoring order to Harare.

The passing of the June 26 deadline was a lost opportunity by the responsible authority to rid Harare of illegal vending while ensuring that those in the informal sector start paying for the services they were enjoying.

To show their support for efforts to bring back order to Harare, vendors flocked to different vendor registration points to have their names entered in the council vendors books.

By the end of the week nearly 3 000 vendors had registered with the city so that they could get space to do their business.

On Tuesday a further 876 people had registered by end of day, taking the tally to 3 876 vendors already looking forward to be allocated operating space in the designated vending sites in the city.

More are still expected to register.

Mrs Pauline Tauzeni of Mabvuku said she was prepared to relocate to a designated site one the spaces were allocated.

“That did not happen. I am still here in the streets because the city authorities have not allocated us the spaces. Apart from that, I hear there are no toilets or running water, a prerequisite for the relocation. I feel the city was too hasty and ended up failing to put the necessary infrastructure on site for use by vendors.

“Surely, you cannot remove us from the streets and the market then dump us in spaces with no facilities. I am sure the council felt that it was creating a stime bomb hence opted to delay the relocation exercise,” she said.

Another vendor, Malcolm Shora, said he was among the first people to register as a vendor but was disappointed that the city and Government had failed to push through such a noble idea.

“I have been in the vending business since 1989 and I am actually disappointed with this lawlessness caused by illegal vendors. There is need for a reorganisation of the sector to ensure that it starts contributing to the fiscus.

“What help is there for us when the sector remains informal and vendors do not develop big business? I am fully behind the move to relocate vendors to designated places and help create one-stop shopping centres for these small commodities, be they electrical goods, vegetables or mobile phone accessories.

“I am sure the prices obtaining at the malls or vending sites will draw people to the stalls there and creating the market.

“We have always had Siya-So, Mupedzanhamo and the market in Mbare. Those have become specialised and people would flock to these centres to buy necessities. A market can be created by prices at the vending sites,” he said.

A council official says the city authorities were to blame for the delays in putting up the requisite infrastructure for vendors. He said the city council could be playing politics following MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s threats over the forced relocation of vendors.

The official, who refused to be named for professional reasons, said the delay should be married to the utterances by Tsvangirai during his so-called state of the nation address over the weekend.

“The MDC-T led council could be buying time and dilly-dallying on the vendors’ relocation in line with their boss’s utterances. Zimbabweans were eager to see a clean city but that has not happened. The removal of the vendors could have come as a relief to many of us but particularly the pedestrians and shop owners.

“The opposition party is enjoying the chaos in Harare that it says is a result of ZANU-PF’s failed policies. The party hopes to benefit from the chaos come 2018,” he said.

Mr Tsvangirai and affiliated vendor organisations like the National Vendors’ Union Zimbabwe have been trying to use the relocation of the vendors for their own political expediency. Street vending is a common phenomenon worldwide.

President of the Zimbabwe Home Industries and Market Association Mr Onisimo Gore said council needs to get serious with enforcing deadlines.

“Our members have started relocating to assigned areas but council needs to get serious with enforcing its deadlines. They also need to make sure that there are toilets and water. We do not understand why they are taking long to put up the toilets when they are supposed to be portable ones,” he said.

Mr Gore was concerned that some of their members had already started returning to the streets and said if the deadlines set out were not enforced more vendors would follow suit.

“Our members have been obedient thus far and when they come to our offices we tell them that they should go to allocated areas and register. Some of the places are full such as Market Square, Fourth Street, OK Cameron Street. So our instruction is for them to find where they can be accommodated.

“The biggest problem is stopping them from returning to the streets and if council cannot enforce its deadlines then the vendors will not believe what we tell them and just do as they please. As an organisation we are trying as much as possible to get all vendors to comply with the law,” he added.

Mr Gore said delays in the relocation exercise had an impact on the manner in which people were responding to the registration process.

A visit to some of the designated vending sites showed earthmovers and compactors at work of the ground. Registration was continuing with more than 800 people registering on Tuesday, four days after the June 26 deadline.

City of Harare spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme admitted they were to blame for the delays in the relocation of the vendors saying council was still putting in place infrastructure needed at the vending sites.

He said council was still going ahead with the relocation of vendors despite the delays.

“Despite the different messages that could be coming from the councillors, the official council position is that vendors should be moved to designated places. We can’t continue to have the existing chaos in the city.

“Infrastructure is coming. The city council is putting in place infrastructure, erecting water and ablution facilities and compacting of the sites is underway. Tents have been ordered while tables are being made. We are still welcoming vendors for registration. We do not want to move them to places with no infrastructure.

“The city is busy making sure all the facilities are in place for the smooth relocation of vendors. It’s a matter of days before the vendors relocate to these areas,” Mr Chideme said.

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