BY SILENCE CHARUMBIRA
The Zimbabwe Informal Sectors’ Organisation (Ziso) fears the government will repeat the infamous Operation Murambatsvina/Operation Restore Order of 2005 that left hundreds of thousands homeless if it heeds calls to remove vendors from the streets of Harare.
This comes after a call made by Mashonaland Central Senator Monica Mavhunga in Parliament and repeated efforts by the Ministry of Local Government and council to remove vendors from the streets.
Ziso said the government had a duty to put appropriate measures in place to ensure that informal traders have alternative and viable means of making a living.
“Ziso is concerned that the government will repeat its callous actions of 2005’s Operation Murambatsvina where the government ruthlessly demolished people’s homes and only belatedly sought to provide alternative accommodation, which it failed leading to a humanitarian crisis,” the organisation said.
“In this instance, government must not proceed to remove the vendors without a proper plan for alternative sources of livelihoods. It must be remembered that it is the government’s failure to provide employment and its misguided indigenisation drive that has led people to the streets.”
Zimbabweans were increasingly resorting to desperate measures to make ends meet in an environment where hundreds are losing jobs every month as companies close shop. The situation has become so dire that most urban residents have resorted to selling all kinds of wares on the streets just to make a living.
This in turn has resulted in Harare deteriorating into a vending city with streets virtually impassable as vendors compete for clients.
