HARARE City Council has allegedly failed to account for thousands worth of goods, including foodstuff and clothes seized from illegal vendors in the city centre.
BY MOSES MATENGA
This has set the stage for a bruising legal fight with the vendors, who have already engaged the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) in a bid to recover their wares.
The human rights lawyers recently wrote to Harare acting town clerk, Josephine Ncube demanding the return of all goods confiscated from July 31, when council launched a major blitz on street vendors. The vendors expressed fears that some of their goods could have been sold by municipal police officers involved in the raids.
In a letter dated July 31 and addressed to human rights lawyer, Belinda Chinowawa representing Unemployed Mobile Youth Foundation, Ncube claimed there was only one unclaimed tent at council offices.
“Please be advised that the tent that was confiscated together with the poles by our municipal police details is being held at the metropolitan police headquarters. There has been no one who came to claim it,” Ncube said.
“The owners of the above property can approach our offices and pay the storage fees so their property can be released. In relation to bags containing wares, our investigations have shown that there were no such bags that were seized on the date the tent was pulled down.”
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But the vendors insisted municipal police had seized several goods during the raids.
“At the crack of dawn on July 10, 2015, members of the Harare metropolitan police descended on the open space between Julius Nyerere Way and Jason Moyo Avenue, where our clients had set up tents and tables to sell their wares,” the letter read in part.
“The municipal police officers proceeded to confiscate tents, tables and bags containing goods for sale sourced by our client’s members. To date, despite verbal requests by some of our members, the confiscated goods have not been returned, gravely prejudicing them of income.”
