Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. The City of Harare has set up a new municipal police unit to crack down on illegal traders, people who litter, and those who roast green maize in the city centre.
Mayor Jacob Mafume said this during a meeting at Town House on Thursday. He said the council wants to restore order in the city. Said Mafume:
We have created a special unit in our municipal police, that is going to be enforcing anti-litter by-laws.
Certainly, in other countries, you don’t roast maize in the middle of town and so forth.
These are the things that we are going to be planning back on with the special units of the police to make sure that the areas are clean.
Mafume also said that the council is committed to providing informal traders with safe and proper vending spaces. He said:
We need to have some streets where we do not permit anyone to sell anything in the market or anywhere and then other streets we can agree, after consultation with the informal sector and the residents, where we can allow them to be able to do the same implementation for designated areas, so that we can establish policies.
However, in an interview with NewsDay, Combined Harare Residents Association director Ruben Akili said the council is responsible for the lawlessness in the city centre due to its failure to provide alternative vending spaces.
Akili added that the local authority likely spends more on enforcement than on building markets. He said:
Resources must be channelled towards building markets in areas where these people can be allowed to do their work.
While there are no official statistics on the number of informal traders in Harare, estimates suggest there are thousands, driven by the ongoing closure of companies and the shortage of formal employment opportunities.
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