BY VERNA NYAMUCHENGWE
DEFIANT street vendors in Harare have urged the government to create employment opportunities, stating that they would leave the streets if alternative sources of their livelihoods were made available to them.
The vendors were responding to a 48-hour ultimatum issued by the government ordering them to vacate the streets in all the country’s urban centers.
However, vendors have remained defiant and continue to operate as usual.
Instead they are calling for the ultimatum to be rescinded.
Annah Tariro Muchaya, a vendor operating in Harare’s Maurice Nyagumbo Street, formerly First Street, said a significant percentage of street vendors are graduates who are unable to find formal employment.
Muchaya said vending has become her sole source of income due to her inability to find formal employment.
“There are no jobs, we need to put food on the table, the economy is too bad and the only way to survive is to go in the street so that we work”, Machaya said.
Besides, Machaya said street vending offers higher earnings than some formal employment adding, during the evening they are joined by formally employed individuals who hustle after work.
She said some vendors continue to sell in the evenings because that is when they experience less harassment from municipal police officers and the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
Another vendor along Harare’s Speke Street, who requested anonymity, said he will continue to operate until late as it is a busy time for his business.
He said the designated areas are less busy as they are located in the outskirts of the Central Business District where sales do not cover their costs.
On March 12th, the government and the Harare City Council, announced that vendors should cease operating from undesignated areas saying illegal vending activities were contributing to increased crime, including drug abuse, and unsanitary conditions in urban centers nationwide.
The Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Bills, Daniel Garwe said the recent and unplanned growth of night vending poses serious risks, as it lacks basic health and sanitation provisions and offers no police presence for security.
“This is an unset development that came from nowhere we just found 3, 4 weeks ago, Harare being aligned at night, people selling and at the same time drug dealers become more active than ever before in this regard and we are saying our laws do not allow for night trading”, Garwe said.
“There is no provision for night trading or night economy”.
