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Julia Mugadzaweta  Features Writer —
A drive along Chaminuka Road in Mbare reveals a long line of street vendors selling their wares next to rubbish dumps. Rotting garbage, moist plastic and decomposing vegetable excess give the place a lasing stench.

The vendors, who use cardboard boxes as their stalls, have been facing challenges in this rain as the pulp residue from wetted cardboard is nowhere near pleasant.

Braving such conditions has been Nyasha Vheremu’s daily routine for the past year she has been in the hawking business. She says it is by luck that they have not contracted diseases from the filth.

“People here sell cabbages and fresh maize but do not properly dispose of the cobs and leaves. This waste coupled with the moisture from the rains emit a terrible smell,” Vheremu said.

For a person who goes to work with her three-year-old daughter, she is worried her daughter might contract diseases where she plays.

“I cannot afford to put my daughter into nursery care during the day so I end up coming with her to work. You can see how dirty this place is. I am now afraid that she might fall into the water that collects in the potholes and end up with an illness,” she said.

The concerns by Vheremu and her colleagues are synonymous with those held by people who frequent Mbare Musika.

Vendors who operate in the Mbare Musika, popular for fruit and vegetables, say they are still to see the utilisation of the fees they are made to pay.

Mr Chitofu, an elderly vendor who has been working in the market for the past three years expressed concern over council operations especially during the rainy season.

“Vendors in the farmers’ market yard pay $6 a day, whilst those operating outside the yard pay from $5 to $10 depending on the area they are working in,” he said.

Because of the dirt in the farmer’s market yard, customers avoid the place opting for the sellers stationed in the bigger yard.

Vendors who operate from the designated farmer’s market stalls are crying foul saying the council favours those who pay more.

“During the rainy season, our vending business hits an all-time low. People shun the market due to lack of overhead shelter and the filthy conditions in the area,” Mr Chitofu said.

He added the council was neglecting them.

“The City Council is failing to collect garbage. We clean the stall area ourselves so why can’t they simply collect the garbage?” he quizzed.

Traders in Mbare Musika are expected to pay money said to help in the day-to-day operations of the market. However, amounts paid do not add up to the services being provided.

Mr Chitofu added, “What is worse is that no one in this market operates before making payment to the city council. We pay money to sell our produce from 6am to 1130am, yet they fail to clean the area, even the toilets.”

The toilets are in a sorry state, they are hardly clean, with human excreta covering large parts of the floor. Sometimes there is no running water, a strong stench of urine has become a permanent fixture, a condition unacceptable for a food market.

When the toilets undergo cleaning, the water is allowed to flow freely right into the market where there are food vendors.

Problematic as ever, the Tagarika Flats have presented a fresh headache for the council.

Tagarika Flats residents are now victims of the dire toilet situation as farmers allegedly relieve themselves in their hallways.

The farmers take advantage of the poor lighting at the flats and the chaotic living arrangements.

Mrs Matambo, a resident of Tagarika Flats bemoaned their situation especially the reeking toilets.

“The vendors who come to the market end up sneaking up our hallway and relieving themselves. We have children here and the scenes are not pleasant,” she said.

The occupants at Tagarika Flats end up cleaning after hawkers have soiled their dwellings.

“I understand why these people come to help themselves here. The council locks the toilets in the market and they do not have anywhere else to go. I only wish there was a way to fix the situation. There is already typhoid in Mbare,” Mrs Matambo said.

The situation is Mbare Musika is not too different from Mupedzanhamo Market, whose vendors have been struggling with inadequate ablution facilities.

Long ago a song was sung about a $30 million market to be built on Shawasha Grounds to de-congest the market.

In 2011, the then City Council town clerk Dr Tendai Mahachi announced a plan to build what was dubbed Mupedzanhamo 2.

He was quoted by The Herald saying, “The project is big. We are going forward. We will be housing more than 1 000 traders.”

He also said construction was to start in January or February 2012. However, it seems it was only a dream sold to Harare residents. Today, the Shawasha Grounds are a place of unspeakable squalor far from the “state of the art” market promised.

The Harare city fathers hold the plaque for the most abandoned projects.

Plans for the redevelopment of Mbare Musika have been on the cards since the 1990s.

A number of tenders have been awarded, among them one given to Allied Property Developers in 1990, Golden Wheels (Pvt) Ltd in 1993 and another to the Machipisa Brothers in 1995.

In 2014, a $45 million deal was in the works and it raised eyebrows because of the lack of a properly defined project concept.

Urban planning and local governance expert, Mr Percy Toriro said Mbare Musika’s overhaul was long overdue.

He said there was a clear business case for development of Mbare Musika since it generates business in excess of $300 million every year.

“It is time that Mbare Musika is overhauled. In my opinion there is need for a redevelopment plan that takes into account the current situation,” Mr Toriro said.

He urged the council to take responsive action to the growing vendor population.

“The plan should aim to accommodate all the traders currently in Mbare now, as well as expand it to accommodate the future growth of Harare,” he said.

He added the facilities in place were inadequate, from the market stalls, ablution facilities, parking areas, the bus terminus, and overnight accommodation.

“This should be the focus of the upgrade. This market is almost as ancient as Mbare suburb, this means everything there is now old,” he said.

Acting council spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme said the lack of funds has been inhibiting them from taking corrective action.

“We have been talking to our partners and we hope that they come on board.

“However, it should be taken into account that we are operating in a difficult economic situation and the council is struggling to come up with funds to undertake the projects,” Mr Chideme said.

In the wake of typhoid reports, Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa and Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Saviour Kasukuwere visited Mbare as part of an inter-ministerial team to assess the area.

Minister Kasukuwere indicated that authorities at Mbare Musika did not care about the situation on the ground.

“It’s a disaster. The situation here is deplorable. Harare city council are hands-off in their approach; they do not even know what the steering wheel is,” he said.

He chided the city fathers for not having an interest in the affairs of the city and promised action.

His health counterpart, Dr Parirenyatwa said fighting typhoid was not possible under current hygienic conditions.

“We will not be able to get rid of either typhoid or cholera and other diarrhoeal diseases as long as we have conditions like these ones,” he said.

“Even if I say every hospital in this country must stop treating anything else except typhoid and cholera, we will still not have a solution.

“The solution to make sure that we have got hygienic conditions in this country, especially here in Mbare,” Dr Parirenyatwa said.

Questions have been asked of the council’s commitment to deal decisively with the health hazards in Mbare.

Critics have called them out for using vendors as scapegoats in the typhoid issue, saying they are equally responsible for the diseases outbreaks which have occurred.

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