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NewsDay

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‘No going back on Harare demolitions’

News
HARARE City Council has set itself on a collision course with desperate vendors across the city after it demolished informal business and residential structures amid concerns that it is destroying people’s livelihoods in the wake of a crippling economic crisis.

BY MOSES MATENGA

HARARE City Council has set itself on a collision course with desperate vendors across the city after it demolished informal business and residential structures amid concerns that it is destroying people’s livelihoods in the wake of a crippling economic crisis.

The council last week went all over the city demolishing illegal structures, typical of the 2005 operation code-named Murambatsvina, which according to United Nations estimates affected at least 700 000 people directly through loss of their homes or livelihoods and 2,4 million people indirectly.

Victims who spoke to NewsDay yesterday said they were fully aware that they were operating on illegal spaces, but the ruthlessness of council was ignoring circumstances that pushed them into informal trading — the economic challenges.

Council spokesperson Michael Chideme said they warned the vendors way before and advised them to remove their structures, but they did not take heed.

“They were warned by council to remove their wares and prepare to go to designated places. Everyone operating outside legal space and encroaching into roads is wasting time. Council will assist them to remove their structures,” he said.

Chideme said people who have settled themselves on wetlands should immediately vacate before council steps in to evict them.

“Whoever is on a piece of land not allocated to him by the local authority should think twice before they continue with their investments because council will come to assist them to remove their structures.”

Several structures including in Mbare, Zindoga and other areas have since been demolished despite threats to resist.