Harare City Council has embarked on an Operation to destroy structures and businesses built illegally along Kirkman Road (which links the sprawling high-density suburb of Dzivarasekwa to the city centre), and Lomagundi Road.
Illegal Shops selling various goods ranging from construction material to live animals opposite N. Richards Wholesalers after Westlea were affected.
Harare’s corporate communications manager Michael Chideme vowed that the city council will not relent on the demolitions. He said:
Investing in illegal settlements is a waste of time and resources.
We are encouraging people to settle on legal places to avoid having their structures destroyed. Anyone on illegal settlements should make sure that they remove their structures.
We also want to preserve wetlands; so we want people to stop putting up structures on wetlands as well.
Armed officers from the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and municipal police are working together during the cleanup operation.
After moving into an area, they ask the traders to destroy their structures but if they resisted, front-end loaders will be used to forcibly pull down the structures.
