Vendors night vigil with the police

There are running dangerous battles currently going on between the police and the vendors in Zimbabwe's capital city harare. Tired of incessant and unjust confistication of their wares by the municipal police, vendors gathered thousands of stones in preparation of the evening raids of the municipal police, when the police arrived, the vendors pelted them with stones running after them all the way to the Harare City Council. The police later reinforced and combined with the Zimbabwe Republic Police to brutally crush the vendors protests.

The continued running battles between the police and the vendors reflect the fact that despite the government's claims that they have effectively addressed the issue of the vendors in the city centre, they have not!

The vending laws remain grossly unjust leading to a higher likelihood of defiance. The allocation of the so called new vending sites is chronically corrupt, tragically slow and partisan. As a result the vendors who most need the stalls have least benefited. As if that is not enough, corrupt council officials continue to connive with their municipal police to plunder vendors wares for their own consumption and resale under the guise of law enforcement. This is grossly unjust and can never be accepted.

ZISO continues to call for an end to the use of forces against citizens seeking to erk out a living under an environment of acute shortage of employment opportunities, sharp liquidity crisis and astronomic economic decline. The government, private sector the informal sector representatives must immediately convene to find a durable and effective solution to the current stand off.

Further updates coming ....