No to ruthless eviction of illegal traders from the streets - NPP

Revolutionary greetings comrades. The blame for the Zimbabwean economic meltdown must be placed where it belongs, at the door steps of Zanu Pf. The blame must rest squarely on the shoulders of Zanu Pf. Corruption coupled with the liquidation of the constitution are responsible for the economic upheavals the country is facing.

The case in point is the issue of vendors who have been given 48 hours  to vacate the streets. The Local Government minister July( a name that befits a minister whose mind is frozen) Moyo threatened to use the military to eject the vendors from the streets. Such loose and uncirmcised pronouncements only serve to confirm that Zimbabwe is a military state. The coup led to the dessolution of the constitution and eventually the death of democracy.

Declaring war on informal traders who are sustaining the economy is grossly undemocratic and a violation of vendors' rights. It exposes Mnangagwa and his cabinet as ill-tutored politicians who are not exposed to the ABCs of the modern political economy. Mnangagwa and Chiwengwa are twin babes in the most volatile hood of politics.  They need to change their unholy-chameleonic personalities or change the hood and make it democratic, or better still, change both.

What is even more worrying is the fact that the government made this announcement without consulting the
concerned traders. This can loosely be translated to mean that the vendors are less of human beings and have no rights at all.

Vendors and pirate taxis were given 48 hours to vacate the CBD streets yet criminals who have brought the economy to its knees were given 3 months. Isn't this hypocrisy of the stinking order? Who is better here,  illegal traders or selfish thieves who  looted the state cofers empty? Is Zanu Pf trying to legalise looting and criminalise vending?

Like the thieves who stole millions of tax payers' money, vendors must be given a minimum of 3 months, in collaboration with the government to negotiate a feasible vending plan. Vendors were created by Zanu Pf ill-governance, hence the diabolic party must work patiently with them in finding a lasting solution to the problem. Unemployment did not fall from heaven like satan, it is instead an evil Zanu Pf creation which has forced the unemployed lot to resort to illegal trading to sustain their families. I concur with the National Vendors Union of Zimbabwe leader, Sten Zvorwadza's assersion that if the government wants them to leave the streets, it must provide them with the jobs it promised. If the vendors are ruthlessly flushed out of the streets and the government fails to provide them with employment, the figures of the unemployed will balloon. The affected families will then labour under the Zanu Pf created stigma of unemployment and  poverty.

As NPP we say NO to the ruthless flushing of the illegal traders from the streets. We urge the government to work with the opposition and the illegal traders to map out the way forward. Using the military to force them out of the streets is not the solution, but is akin to adding salt to the open wound. It is aggravating the already fragile situation. Problems of our times are not solved by the employment of force or the blood and iron strategy, but by seating around the conference tables and debating the issues till a lasting solution is arrived at. Use of force or the blood and iron strategy in our modern times is archiac, medieval, satanic and a sign of ideological aberration. Only destitutes of common sense find pleasure in unnecessarily using force.  True, where the urge to reason ends, ignorance and anger begin.

Dear Zimbabweans from all the walks of life and socio-political collars, let us reject the unwarranted ejection of the illegal traders from the streets and advocate for the careful engagement of the concerned parties to reach a sweet solution.

Victory is certain, alluta continua.
NPP National youth spokesperson
Khulani David Ndhlovu