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The so-called vendors are no more than political hoodlums in the employ of the opposition party whom the party sponsors as some kind of sentinels and in particular footsoldiers for any chaos that may be dreamt of in the reaches of Harvest House

Freeman Razemba  Crime Reporter

Some senior MDC-T officials have been influencing these vendors/thugs to defy any police or municipal orders to vacate the streets.

THIS week, a war erupted between municipal police and what appeared to be vendors along Nelson Mandela Avenue in Harare as the “vendors” resisted arrest and threw stones at the law enforcement agents.

In a melodramatic twist to it all, a municipal cop collapsed after apparently being attacked by supernatural forces.

This is not the first time such an incident has happened, and in particular around Harvest House, the headquarters of the opposition MDC-T.

In fact, it does not take much to connect the dots and notice a disturbing trend of provocative and combustible actions by the opposition’s goons.

The so-called vendors are no more than political hoodlums in the employ of the opposition party whom the party sponsors as some kind of sentinels and in particular foot soldiers of any chaos that may be dreamt of in the reaches of Harvest House.

Most of them sell their wares armed with stones and weapons, which will be stashed in bags while others, according to reports, keep the stones in Harvest House.

There have also been reports that some senior MDC-T officials have been influencing these vendors/thugs not to comply with any police or municipal orders to vacate the streets.

On Monday, police arrested 13 suspects in connection with public violence and the estimated value of property destroyed during the clashes is $76 000.

Some of the weapons were reported to have been fetched from a truck that was parked near Harvest House woth other thugs reportedly going inside the opposition party’s headquarters to fetch the stones and weapons, including catapults, that they were using during the clashes.

Police reacted swiftly and arrested 13 of the hoodlums after they ran amok during the operation.

Vendors, who clogged the city streets over the past couple of years, have been seen as easy political fodder by the opposition.

The MDC-T has been trying to spark a conflagration on the streets to inspire an insurrection similar to the ones witnessed in North Africa which started with the self-immolation of a vendor in Tunisia.

A stand-off between informal traders and police is just what the MDC-T has been praying for, hoping for the replication of the equivalent of an Arab Spring in Zimbabwe.

It will be recalled that a few months back the opposition and its lackeys in the civil society almost came close to mobilising such a movement which, however, soon fizzled out.

In July, 15 illegal vendors, among them leaders of a union linked to the MDC-T which had been inciting others to resist relocation to designated council sites, were arrested for assaulting Harare municipal police.

National Vendors Union of Zimbabwe (NAVUZ) chairman, Mr Stan Zvorwadza and director Mr Samuel Wadzai, were arrested together with 13 others when they besieged Town House after municipal police confiscated illegal vendors’ wares around the central business district.

Mr Zvorwadza is a losing candidate in the MDC-T primaries for Mbare in the 2013 harmonised elections.

MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai is on record urging illegal vendors to continue their lawless activities and disregard calls to leave the streets.

The illegal vendors aligned to the MDC-T stormed Town House demanding their confiscated goods, resulting in a clash with municipal police which saw some of them being apprehended for fuelling violent behaviour.

Municipal police seized goods from illegal vendors along Robert Mugabe Road, First Street and other parts of the CBD.

There was drama as some of the illegal vendors threw themselves in front of a moving council vehicle ferrying those arrested to Harare Central Police Station.

A week before, 26 vendors had also been arrested and three of them were remanded in custody, while the others paid fines before they were released.

In January 2012, police arrested 10 vendors operating near MDC-T offices at Harvest House and recovered a spray gun from one of them.

The vendors are believed to be part of the mob that fought running battles with the police in the city centre.

The then deputy police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka was quoted saying they were investigating why the vendor was carrying the spray gun.

The vendors were arrested after they ran into a shop near the MDC-T offices.

“This was a follow-up operation of rounding up illegal traders,” said Chief Supt Mandipaka.

Chief Supt Mandipaka said as the police were approaching, some of the vendors ran into the shop and attacked them.

“Police called for reinforcements leading to the arrest of the suspects. One of them was found in possession of a spray gun and we are yet to find out its use, as investigations continue,” he said.

Police and vendors fought running battles, forcing shops in the First Street Mall and along Nelson Mandela Avenue to close. The stone-throwing vendors smashed windowpanes of the police post in the First Street Mall.

Some of the vendors are suspected to be MDC-T activists who sell pirated compact discs outside Harvest House.

The clashes also sucked in vendors at OK Supermarket at the corner of First Street and Nelson Mandela Avenue.

Police had visited the area following the assault of a member of the force by vendors outside Harvest House.

In November 2012, the area around Harvest House was turned into a war zone after MDC-T activists attacked police officers who sought to arrest them for assaulting Chiedza Chavatendi member Tapiwa Chibaya who had inquired why they had pirated his group’s CDs.

What is also crucial to note is that the MDC-T has always kept violence as an option and has hinted at urban warfare and terrorism.

There were credible reports in the past of the party training brigands to institute violence and chaos to render this country ungovernable.

This was witnessed around 2007/8 when MDC youths petrol bombed buses and police stations.

Two police constables who were badly burnt when suspected MDC-T youths petrol-bombed Marimba Police Station in Harare on March 13, 2007.

Between March 15 and 25, 2007, four police stations in Chitungwiza, Marimba, Sakubva and Gweru were petrol-bombed by suspected MDC-T activists, resulting in serious injuries to two women constables and damage to property.

Police suspected MDC supporters were responsible for both attacks and arrested five suspects in connection with the Gweru attack.

The raiders cut the wire along the northern boundary of Marimba Police Camp and threw petrol bombs and teargas canisters at three houses.

The most serious damage and all the injuries occurred at a house shared by three women constables.

Sergeants Busani Moyo and Rushwaya had their faces seriously burnt while Cst Brenda Makamba escaped with less serious burns on the face, chest, legs and arms.

It is in this context that the violence by hoodlums masquerading as vendors should be understood.

Desperate MDC-T has all the options on the table and it is also known that they have a morbid fascination with chaos like that witnessed in North Africa and Iraq.