Resist, Reject and Report Violence, #RRRV2023
Intimidation and Harassment of Vendors
ZPP has documented an alarming trend. Vendors are forced into joining the ruling party
Zanu PF and attending party meetings. The politicisation of the vending space
application procedure has caused conflicts in Zimbabwe's largest vending suburb, Mbare.
Vendors are split into those who support CCC and those who support Zanu PF. Vending
sites in other provinces have also picked up on this trend and branded the lucrative
vending areas as belonging to the ruling party. Vendors operating at Mbare vegetable
market Siyaso in Magaba home industrial areas are reportedly being forced to transfer
polling stations from their residences to Mbare. These are reported to be Zanu PF
threats so that they keep their vending sites. Vendors are losing income as they now
spend most productive time attending meetings rather than selling their products and
earning a living. Vending spaces are for all citizens who have been procedurally allocated
space by the respective local authorities, regardless of their political affiliation.
Recommendations
The Harare City Council should take a more proactive role in the fair allocation of
vending spaces and make sure that they are not taken control of by political parties
and activists.
Civil society actors should capacitate vendors on their political rights as enshrined in
the constitution so as not to have their rights violated by political activists.
January 2023
The Zimbabwe Peace Project Monthly Monitoring Report
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