Mphoko on a collision course with vendors

Vice President Phelekezela set himself on a collision course with vendors after he said he did not understand why able-bodied people should engage in subsistence trading.

While addressing Zanu-PF supporters at provincial party headquarters at Davies Hall on Sunday during his maiden "Meet the People" tour in Bulawayo, Mphoko went against the concept of self-help vending when he decried the practice which has become a last resort for the growing number of jobless people in towns and cities to eke out a living.  

"I have got my own views regarding vending where you find an able-bodied man seated selling tomatoes. There are better things to do for someone who I fit except for those who are indisposed and physically-challenged," the VP said.

His utterance came at a time when Zimbabwe's economy has been virtually turned into an informal state as the once thriving industries have been turned into shells due to decades of political and economic mismanagement.

Last year during her "Meet the People" tour, First Lady Grace Mugabe criticised law enforcers whom she ordered to stop harassing vendors.