Politicisation of vending spaces
On 23 February, Bulawayo City Council (BCC) embarked on a blitz to remove vendors from various undesignated
sites along Fifth Avenue and Fife Street. Three people were injured after BCC Police fired rubber bullets to
disperse a crowd which had gathered to demonstrate against an operation targeting illegal vendors. The clash
resulted in Thabani Nyoni falling into a pothole and sustaining an injury while trying to run away with his goods.
One of the other victims was injured when he was pushed and trampled upon. The injured were taken to United
Bulawayo Hospitals for treatment. An hour after the Municipality Police removed vendors, a Zanu PF Youth
leader for Nehanda District, identified as Josiah addressed the vendors and advised them to return to their
vending sites. According to CiteZW, there are 40 empty bays in the city centre and 10 000 empty bays in various
shopping centres city wide where a vending licence costs US$23 per year and monthly rental is US$11. For the
undesignated sites vendors pay US$1 a day to Zanu PF youths. These sites are without toilets and other sanitary
facilities essential for hygienic environments. In Harare, Zanu PF affiliate ‘Vendors 4ED’ have clashed with
Harare City Council (HCC), amid reports that the former was illegally allocating trading spaces to its members in
the city under cover of the ruling party. Harare ward 16 councillor and Small and Medium Enterprise Committee
chairperson, Denford Ngadziore, stated that it is the mandate of the City of Harare through its relevant
department to allocate trading places. Vendors 4ED national chairperson Samora Chisvo claimed his group was
only holding awareness campaigns with vendors. It seems there are underlying reasons why there is tension
between local authorities and the ruling party when it comes to vending sites. As the elections are fast
approaching it is suspected the ruling party intends to expand its support base by targeting vendors and
threatening them with loss of vending sites if they do not vote for Zanu PF and if Zanu PF loses the targeted
urban constituencies.
Recommendations
1. Local governments are urged initiate engagements with vendors to understand why they are spurning
available vending sites with facilities.
2. Civil society actors should capacitate vendors on their political rights as enshrined in the constitution so
that their rights are not violated by political activists.
February 2023
The Zimbabwe Peace Project Monthly Monitoring Report
8