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Elliot Ziwira Senior Writer
If there is anything that has eluded reason for some time, it is the thorny issue of vending in the central business districts of major cities and towns in Zimbabwe, particularly in Harare where running battles between the police and vendors have been the order of the day.

Common sense tells us that it is not proper to rob one of the right to feed their family in any manner that one deems necessary, especially so when other avenues of bringing bread and butter to the table seem to be closed, blocked or non-existent.

As a natural intuition, common sense teaches us that the only way out of a situation is to counter it either by responding in a similar way or a more robust way; or in some cases by negating the existence of such a situation.

Common sense based judgments are usually clouded in subjectivity, for there is no room to let that which we do not agree with prevail.

That there are limited options out there for most citizens is true as far as common sense is concerned; that families need to be looked after is also true. Indeed, it is every citizen’s constitutional right to be allowed to bring grub to the table for his/her family.

But hold on for a while gentle reader, fellow countrymen and kinsmen, for reason teaches us that whatever we may consider common has its own limitations, especially when read in the broader sense where individual rights cannot be separated from collective rights. The individual does not exist in a vacuum, neither does he/she exist above moral, social and legal obligation.

Whatever rights an individual may attest to as being constitutionally binding should not impinge on others’ rights.

As has been alluded earlier on, vending is a way of life to some among us, so is operating a business and just being able to be part of the bread-winning bandwagon, which is not necessarily vending-bound.

It is not like vendors are regarded as a menace, albeit a necessary one, but they need to operate within a regulatory framework that considers the rights of other citizens. Yes, cholera is real, for it has claimed more than 30 of our own, (May their souls rest in peace!) and reportedly put over 3 000 under the weather or strain, but the issue of vendors in the central business district should go beyond the outbreak.

Hygiene and sanitation are not once off phenomena; they are real issues, central to the well-being of citizens, who for long have been crying out for the authorities to deliver them from the smelly alleys, thoroughfares and backyards they have to endure in their quests to deliver bread to their families’ tables.

Not that they should take the blame alone, but vendors have contributed to the loss of glitter of the once Sunshine City through wanton disregard of rules of cleanliness and tolerance.

They have overnight become street owners -nay shop owners- with “rights” to all “open” spaces, even those in front of legally operating shops as well as roads.

Before . . . the streets and pavements had virtually become impassable because of vendors, with hoodlums taking advantage of the chaos

Robert Mugabe Road had virtually become impassable, with hordes of vendors setting up shop willy-nilly, with seemingly no one giving a hoot about the inconvenience they caused to motorists and other law-abiding citizens.

With vendors off the streets, thanks to the combined efforts of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and the Harare City Council, walking/driving along has become a pleasure again. Shop owners, who have always cried foul and took the city fathers to task for making them abide by operating regulations and licensing, yet turning a blind eye to their non-compliant rivals lying in vigil on their doorsteps, can now smile all the way to the bank again.

Now that the die is cast, authorities should leverage on the prevailing wave and put sustainable systems in place to make sure that the issue of vendors is dealt with once and for all. The merry-go-round should, indeed, be brought to a halt. There are spaces availed to vendors with ablution facilities, which they should take up, instead of them appealing to the common sense of citizens for them to be allowed to trade trivial wares in the CBD.

Vending is not new, neither is it peculiar to Zimbabwe, therefore, riding on it for political grandstanding smacks of hypocrisy. Whatever brought them to the streets in the first place is neither here nor there, what should worry citizens or political players and their sympathisers is how they should be kept off the pavements for the common good.

Other vices linked to vending can easily be curbed, for it is not uncommon for hoodlums to take advantage of the chaos usually associated with the perennial running battles between law enforcers and vendors, which leaves innocent citizens counting losses.

It is difficult to navigate spaces where common linkages are absent, thus, authorities, vendors and citizens at large should find each other with the understanding that the sunshine that we aspire for comes after a storm, and the tempests that come our way require combined effort to weather.

The filthy streets that have become eyesores, obstructing our vision of a golden future time can only be cleansed, cleaned and gleaned through change of mindsets; and citizens occupy a crucial role in that paradigm shift. Littering, relieving oneself in alleys, on walls or along the streets should not only attract stiff penalties, but should be self-censoring, and, therefore, self-abashing.

Operation Restore Order resonates well with Operation Restore Legacy, for the little habits that we allow to go on unchecked have a way of destroying an entire nation, and reduce citizens to pauperism, both metaphorically and literally where common sense becomes an elixir out of a dungeon; real or imagined.