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A Harare City Council front-end loader demolishes illegal structures at Fourth Street Bus terminus yesterday morning. — Picture by William Mafunga

Susan Nyabunze Herald Reporter
Harare City Council yesterday demolished booths illegally erected at Fourth Street Bus Terminus.
Huge cranes were seen loading big freight containers that housed some wares into trucks, while a front-end loader was used to pull down the booths.

The structures demolished included TeleCash and NetOne booths, four cloakrooms, five makeshift kitchens, six barber shops and a cellphone shop.

About 10 snooker tables, a waiting room and five structures with corrugated iron sheet roofs that were used as  shops, were also demolished.

In a statement, Harare City Council said the demolitions were aimed at ensuring vendors were in designated sites and removed from inappropriate places in the Central Business District.

“The exercise is part of measures to bring sanity to the Central Business District by allocating properly designated vending sites and removing vendors from inappropriate sites,” read the statement.

Before the demolitions yesterday, the City Council issued statements warning owners to voluntarily remove their structures.

“Harare City Council wishes to advise illegal business operators who erected shacks at the Fourth Street Bus rank to voluntarily remove their structures before Sunday morning 14 September,” reads the statement. “The voluntary removal of the illegal structures that have defaced the bus rank will save property and allow owners to reuse their construction material elsewhere.

“The city will move ahead to demolish the structures on Sunday morning should the owners resist voluntary removal,” reads the

statement. However, most operators removed only their wares, leaving the structures to be destroyed by the city council yesterday.

Harare City spokesperson, Mr Leslie Gwindi, said the value of demolished structures would be announced today.