Council closes Mutare shops

CASH strapped Mutare City Council, which is exploiting all avenues to raise revenue and pay workers, has embarked on a shop licence blitz, closing down businesses that are operating illegally.

The exercise, which entered its third week on Monday, has resulted in the closure of hundreds of businesses that were operating without licences.

Acting Town Clerk, Engineer Donald Nyatoti, told the Post Business on Wednesday that the operation was continuing till all shops in the city acquire the required papers by paying stipulated fees to the local authority.

"Inasmuch as we want to collect revenue, the operation is also meant to bring order to the city. Businesses cannot operate without licences because it is illegal to do so. From the survey we did we realised that only 25 percent of businesses operating in the city had valid licences, while the rest had no papers to support their operations.

"The term force is a little bit harsh but what I can tell you is that by closing down those shops we are simply telling the entrepreneurs to put their houses in order. You just don't operate a shop from the blues," he said.

Engineer Nyatoti said the local authority was owed more than $25 million by both households and commercial enterprises and council was working flat out to collect the debts.

Mayor Councillor Tatenda Nhamarare said businesses make the most noise when council fails to provide service like refuse collection yet they are operating in the city without paying a cent to the municipality.

"This is a win-win situation. How do you expect council to effectively deliver on service provision, yet you are operating illegally without paying a dime to council? That shop closure exercise will go on till everyone is in line. Council desperately needs money to funds its activities and ratepayers must own up and pay," he said.

Engineer Nyatoti said since the rolling out of the exercise some businesses came forward to pay up and acquire the licences, but he did not have the exact figures the local authority had mopped up.

The Business Post talked to some of the entrepreneurs whose shops were closed.

They blamed the local authority for the quandary they are in saying that they were operating without licences because of stringent requirements needed by council to apply for one.

Besides the "colonial" licences requirements which they said literally barred them from operating shops, the local authority has a stringent debt settlement policy that requires anyone who wants services at the Civic Centre to have clean accounts.

"I have the money to pay the licence but the requirements needed to get one are out of this world. I think our lawmakers must change the Shop Licences Act and ensure that its provisions are user friendly to new age informal traders who are the employers of today. Laws are there to benefit the people and not to create problems.

We are young business people who want to grow and also pay something to Government as tax, but doors are being closed before us because of stringent conditions that are there to get a simple licence to operate a grocery shop," said Maxwell Chiradza from Chikanga.

As municipal police officers moved around with officials from the local authority's auditing arm closing down the shops, some defiant shop owners broke the council locks and began operating.

Council's debt clearance policy has not affected businesses only but the general public as well.

Anyone who wants to build a new house or make renovations to an existing one will not have his or her plan approved if there are unsettled debts with the local authority.

Most businesses need health reports in order to renew their licences, but the local authority's health department is closing doors on defaulters.