News / National
D-Day for vendors
25 Jun 2015 at 07:45hrs | Views
Vendors associations are sharply divided over the issue, with those aligned to Zanu-PF willing to move out while those on the opposite side are resisting the move.
THE country's resolve to rid the streets of the vendor menace will be tested tomorrow as the grace period for the army of illegal merchants to move out of the central business districts (CBDs) to designated sites expires.
Indications are that not many of the vendors have registered with the various councils; most of them want to continue doing business in the streets in violation of municipal bylaws.
In the wake of the military's assurance that they will not be drawn into assisting the local authorities in driving the vendors off the streets, councils may find it difficult to eject the vendors from the CBDs.
The vendors now appear to have resolved not to pay anything to councils in the form of rentals buoyed by the fact that nothing adverse would happen to them.
The opposition has also come out in full support of the vendors in what has the potential to make the country's two major cities of Harare and Bulawayo ungovernable.
The two cities are run by councils that are under the dominion of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai who wants the vendors to stay put.
The Harare City Council is by far the worst affected by the vendor menace.
Its city fathers are currently in dilemma as to how they can handle the potentially explosive situation.
As of yesterday, they had no agreed on the way forward with only a few hours before the government's deadline lapses.
There will be eleventh hour crisis meetings today involving the newly established informal sector committee, the finance committee and senior city officials led by the director of corporate services and housing, Josephine Ncube to try and salvage the situation.
City spokesperson, Michael Chideme, was quoted recently saying council was ready to move vendors to the designated selling points and ‘holding bays'.
In a radio interview, town clerk, Tendai Mahachi, revealed, however, that not many of the illegal vendors have turned up for registration in order to be incorporated into designated vending sites.
Sparks are set to fly at today's meetings as management is largely seen as leaning towards the Zanu-PF government, while the MDC-T councillors seemed to backtrack on the relocation of vendors.
Chairperson of the informal sector committee, Wilton Janjazi, confirmed today's series of crisis meetings and hinted on the scale of confusion rocking Town House.
"We will convene to interrogate the process of relocation of vendors and see whether it is feasible to move them or not," said Janjazi, who is also Ward 38, Kuwadzana councillor.
"It will be only after these meetings that we will be able to come up with a position as council. We have made an inquiry recently and realised that the majority of vendors do not want to move and are prepared to engage in running battles with authorities and that there has been a lot of politicisation of the issue. So for now, I can only say nothing is certain," Janjazi said.
Vendors associations are also sharply divided over the issue, with those aligned to Zanu-PF willing to move out while those on the opposite side are resisting the move.
In Bulawayo, about 900 people have so far registered to legalise their vending activities.
Edward Manning, first national vice president of the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations has proposed that vending activities still be allowed to take place at selected points in the CBD.
"We are calling on the city fathers to urgently expand street trade on 5th Avenue to include the area between Joshua Nkomo and Jason Moyo streets. We are calling upon the Bulawayo City Council to permit vending in pavements with a width of four metres; vendors can use half the pavement say two metres while pedestrians use two metres," said Manning.
Bulawayo mayor, Thaba Moyo said some of the vendors were not from the city.
He said meetings have been scheduled between city authorities and vendor organisations to ensure a seamless relocation.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president, Busisa Moyo, said the rise of vendors was symptomatic of the economic problems roiling the country, notably rising unemployment.
"The vendors are also threatening the very survival of industry as they sell (imported) products outside shops," said the CZI president.
THE country's resolve to rid the streets of the vendor menace will be tested tomorrow as the grace period for the army of illegal merchants to move out of the central business districts (CBDs) to designated sites expires.
Indications are that not many of the vendors have registered with the various councils; most of them want to continue doing business in the streets in violation of municipal bylaws.
In the wake of the military's assurance that they will not be drawn into assisting the local authorities in driving the vendors off the streets, councils may find it difficult to eject the vendors from the CBDs.
The vendors now appear to have resolved not to pay anything to councils in the form of rentals buoyed by the fact that nothing adverse would happen to them.
The opposition has also come out in full support of the vendors in what has the potential to make the country's two major cities of Harare and Bulawayo ungovernable.
The two cities are run by councils that are under the dominion of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai who wants the vendors to stay put.
The Harare City Council is by far the worst affected by the vendor menace.
Its city fathers are currently in dilemma as to how they can handle the potentially explosive situation.
As of yesterday, they had no agreed on the way forward with only a few hours before the government's deadline lapses.
There will be eleventh hour crisis meetings today involving the newly established informal sector committee, the finance committee and senior city officials led by the director of corporate services and housing, Josephine Ncube to try and salvage the situation.
City spokesperson, Michael Chideme, was quoted recently saying council was ready to move vendors to the designated selling points and ‘holding bays'.
In a radio interview, town clerk, Tendai Mahachi, revealed, however, that not many of the illegal vendors have turned up for registration in order to be incorporated into designated vending sites.
Sparks are set to fly at today's meetings as management is largely seen as leaning towards the Zanu-PF government, while the MDC-T councillors seemed to backtrack on the relocation of vendors.
Chairperson of the informal sector committee, Wilton Janjazi, confirmed today's series of crisis meetings and hinted on the scale of confusion rocking Town House.
"We will convene to interrogate the process of relocation of vendors and see whether it is feasible to move them or not," said Janjazi, who is also Ward 38, Kuwadzana councillor.
"It will be only after these meetings that we will be able to come up with a position as council. We have made an inquiry recently and realised that the majority of vendors do not want to move and are prepared to engage in running battles with authorities and that there has been a lot of politicisation of the issue. So for now, I can only say nothing is certain," Janjazi said.
Vendors associations are also sharply divided over the issue, with those aligned to Zanu-PF willing to move out while those on the opposite side are resisting the move.
In Bulawayo, about 900 people have so far registered to legalise their vending activities.
Edward Manning, first national vice president of the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Associations has proposed that vending activities still be allowed to take place at selected points in the CBD.
"We are calling on the city fathers to urgently expand street trade on 5th Avenue to include the area between Joshua Nkomo and Jason Moyo streets. We are calling upon the Bulawayo City Council to permit vending in pavements with a width of four metres; vendors can use half the pavement say two metres while pedestrians use two metres," said Manning.
Bulawayo mayor, Thaba Moyo said some of the vendors were not from the city.
He said meetings have been scheduled between city authorities and vendor organisations to ensure a seamless relocation.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president, Busisa Moyo, said the rise of vendors was symptomatic of the economic problems roiling the country, notably rising unemployment.
"The vendors are also threatening the very survival of industry as they sell (imported) products outside shops," said the CZI president.
Source - fingaz
