Bulawayo pavements on Wednesday morning were generally empty

THE usually congested and chaos-filled Bulawayo pavements between 3rd and 6th Avenues were on Wednesday morning generally empty ahead of the blitz by the local authority to keep the City centre clean and clear of illegal vending and other activities.

Usually, the streets and avenues especially along Lobengula, Herbert Chitepo and Joshua Mqabuko Streets as well as Fourth and Fifth Avenues will be full of vendors and illegal money changers popularly known as Osiphatheleni. A Chronicle news crew  drove around the area between 7 am and 9 am and the place was deserted save for a few daring vendors. This was despite the fact that council police were also not visible as expected.

ZRP Bulawayo traffic details were the ones visible as they cleared the usually busy Six Avenue illegal pick-up points.

A vendor who refused to identify herself said they were temporarily going to lie low to allow the heat to cool down before going back to the streets.

"We know that this will not last long but displaying our wares today will be risky but once the heat cools down, and we know it's soon, we will be back again,"  she said.

However, Bulawayo deputy Mayor and Ward One Councillor, Mlandu Ncube, under whose jurisdiction the City centre falls, said council was not going to relent on the operation until the city was clear and clean.