PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe and his wife First Lady Grace blocked the forced removal of vendors operating from undesignated areas in urban centres after a seven-day ultimatum issued by government and a top army officer, a minister said yesterday.
BY MOSES MATENGA/OBEY MANAYITI
Small and Medium Enterprises Development minister Sithembiso Nyoni told members of the shadowy Queen of Grace ZimAsset Trust, which represents a section of vendors that have volunteered to leave the streets of Harare, that Mugabe was against the army and police being used against informal traders.
Nyoni said Mugabe and his wife stopped the forced evictions, arguing that “Zanu PF is for the people”.
“You heard that the army and police were going to be used (during the evictions), but myself and (Local Government minister Cde (Ignatius) Chombo in consultation with Amai and Baba (Robert and Grace), we said Zanu PF is for the people,” she said.
“I was called names on this vendors issue, but what you have done has shamed enemies. It showed you are patriotic. They said ‘unleash dogs and arrest them’, but I said ‘no, they are our people, our sons and daughters, our mothers and aunts, they are Zimbabweans and patriots’. I am sure Amai and Baba will be happy with what you are doing.”
Earlier this month, Chombo and members of the Joint Operations Command threatened to unleash soldiers on street vendors if they did not move within seven days.
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However, the deadline was later moved to June 26 after the army distanced itself from the move.
Nyoni gave members of the Queen of Grace Trust the greenlight to move to a vending site of their choice. The Trust claims to be closely linked to Grace.
She also said Zanu PF Youth League secretary Pupurai Togarepi would soon launch a fund to assist informal businesspeople.
The function was dominated by chanting of Zanu PF slogans as party officials took turns to shower praises on the First Family.
However, other Zanu PF-aligned vendor organisations — namely Grassroots Empowerment Flea Markets and Vendors’ Trust and the Harare Informal Traders’ Association — snubbed the event alongside other independent informal sector organisations.
The independent vendors vowed to continue selling their wares in the streets, saying the designated sites in Harare were too expensive and not enough to absorb the swelling number of vendors now estimated at about 100 000.
“As we face the 13-day ultimatum, we maintain that it will be insensitive to try and remove the vendors forcefully without provisions of an alternative,” National Vendors’ Union of Zimbabwe director Samuel Wadzai said.
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The opposition MDC-T has rallied behind the vendors and threatened to fight on their side should government attempt to forcefully remove them from the streets, accusing the Zanu PF government of creating the problem as a result of its skewed economic policies.
Political analyst Pedzisai Ruhanya said the vendors’ issue required a holistic approach and involvement of all stakeholders to address it as it had the potential to cause civil unrest.
