BY MOSES MATENGA/LORRAINE MUROMO
VENDORS have described the latest round of demolitions in Harare’s most populous suburb, Mbare as a ploy by politicians to use “politics of patronage” to influence the outcome of the March 26 by-elections.
Informal traders under the Vendors Initiative for Socio-Economic Transformation (Viset) said the demolitions of trading stalls in Mbare would result in more than 500 families being deprived of their sources of livelihood.
The demolitions have been widely condemned by rights defenders.
Viset director Samuel Wadzai said: “The timing of this exercise is suspicious as it appears that this may be linked to the upcoming by-elections and may then be a platform for certain political players to exercise and dispense political patronage through what we term ‘space baronism’, where certain characters, through their relations with council officials, collect revenues from vendors and informal traders in exchange for trading space.”
He said vendors had been subjected to ill-treatment by the MDC-led councils and the Zanu PF government.
“There can be no doubt that the demolitions are a gross violation of human rights as people have lost livelihoods, money and goods, yet the Constitution of Zimbabwe guarantees all the rights to pursue livelihoods of their choice and protection of persons,” Wadzai said, adding that with the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe having pegged the average monthly family basket at $73 000 and the upward review of school fees, vendors in the country would be condemned to abject poverty.
The World Bank estimates that 80% to 90% of Zimbabweans work in informal trade, while the country is ranked the second most informalised in the world.
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Informal Sector Organisation executive director Promise Mkwananzi said: “We didn’t realsze that when President Emmerson Mnangagwa mentioned the Zimbabwe is open for business mantra, he meant that business was open for himself, his family and his cronies, and that’s why you see vendors being attacked left, right and centre.”
Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy secretary-general Wisbon Malaya said: “We cannot make demolitions an annual or bi-annual event that some authorities through the powers that be just demolish other people’s workplaces in the name of illegal operators. The truth of the matter is the informal economy is the backbone of the Zimbabwean Economic Stability under the National Development Strategy 1.”
He said demolitions were a disgrace which needed to be permanently addressed through effective policies.
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