Disabled vendors appeal to Mugabe

PEOPLE living with disabilities have appealed to President Mugabe to help establish more market stalls in the city with low rentals to enable them to sell their wares without being harassed by municipal police.
Those with disabilities who sell their wares from the streets of Harare said they needed to formalise their sources of income.
"We are trying to make a living by selling what is rightfully ours without stealing from anyone, but all our efforts are thwarted by municipal police," said one of the vendors who operates from the corner of Inez Terrace and Jason Moyo streets.
He said although some people vending along the streets were not disabled, those with disabilities usually become victims because sometimes they were slow to react when municipal police chase them away.
"If they catch us, they take us to their offices where we are asked to pay fines of about US$20 per person," said another vendor who identified himself as Mr Muzondo.
"Sometimes they take away all our stuff."
The vendors sell goods such as fruits, sweets, air time, and CDs along the streets, with some of them taking home an average of US$20 on a good day.
The Rights of Disabled Persons in Zimbabwe (RODPIZ) has since written to President Mugabe through his special advisor on disability issues, Retired Brigadier Felex Muchemwa, saying they have tried to engage responsible authorities without any response.
RODPIZ strategic communication and advocacy officer Mr Macko Abraham said in the letter that they received numerous reports of their members being injured by municipal police during street raids.
"We were forced by the situation and circumstances to come to your high offices to humbly appeal because all other offices do not want to hear and listen to us and let alone to have dialogue with us whenever we make fair and reasonable presentations to their offices," said Mr Abraham.
He noted two cases of people living with disabilities who were injured during the municipal raids, further worsening their conditions.
According to the letter written on September 8, male vendor Mr Takawira Dzvatsvarara, who is has speech and hearing impairments, broke his leg after he was allegedly violently pushed at the Licensing Inspectorate Building along Robson Manyika.
On September 14, another female vendor Ms Esther Tinago was deliberately tripped down and fell on the tarmac, breaking her ankle.
Police reports and medical affidavits were obtained in both cases.
"Is it the new way of dealing with the physically challenged trying to survive the brunt of this harsh economic and turbulent situation?" said Mr Abraham wrote.
According to the new by-laws called the Harare Hawkers By-laws 2013 which were gazetted in May, no person shall engage another to carry the business of hawking unless he or she is in possession of a valid hawker's employers' licence.
The new regulations say that no hawker shall remain stationary while conducting his or her business for more than 15 minutes.Apart from the general restrictions, a hawker would need to fork out a US$20 application fee.