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Raymond Jaravaza, Showbiz Correspondent

HE keeps glancing from side to side as the brief interview progresses and it’s clear from his demeanour that Sabelo Mlilo is certainly not at ease but is trying hard to put up a brave face. 

It’s at the corner of Herbert Chitepo Street and Sixth Avenue near the makeshift commuter omnibus terminus that services Bulawayo’s western suburbs where Mlilo sells oranges and bananas from his pushcart.

“I have to be on the lookout for oMakokoba (Bulawayo City Council municipal officers) both on foot or in a city council van because once they catch me selling here, they will confiscate everything including the pushcart,” Mlilo speaks as he serves an elderly woman and at the same time looking around to ensure he is safe from oMakokoba.

He is not alone in this cat and mouse game that vendors and municipal officers engage in on a daily basis. 

Thousands of vendors are in the same predicament as they try to eke out a living from selling an assortment of wares. They are constantly on the lookout for the men and women in blue who do not only arrest them but also confiscate their wares and pushcarts. 

Thousands of former workers have turned to vending to fend for their families following the closure of many companies in the city. An estimated 20 000 workers lost their jobs as a result of company closures and it is these former workers who are now on the streets selling different wares to eke out a living.

“What choice do I have, there are no jobs and the only way I can take care of my family is by selling oranges and bananas. When business is good I take home more than $150 but the biggest threat to my business are the municipal police officers. Just last week, a friend of mine who also sells fruits just up the road lost his stuff after they raided us in the morning,” said Mlilo.

He said his worst fear is losing the pushcart to the municipal police officers as they demand a fine to release it.

“I hire the pushcart for a fee of $30 a day and if I lose it to the municipal police officers I will be made to pay a fine to get it back. We are however not given back the confiscated bananas and oranges so once raided one has to raise fresh capital. Frankly speaking, it’s not easy in this business but I’ve no choice but to come here every day and take my chances with oMakokoba,” said Mlilo. 

In 2017 the city council indicated that Bulawayo had more than 6 000 vendors in the Central Business District with only a handful having heeded the local authority’s calls to register and legalise their operations. 

The number of illegal vendors has most likely ballooned in the past few years as more people find themselves out of formal employment. 

Rumbidzai Makoni sells Kapenta (dried fish) and just like Mlilo, she is always on the lookout for municipal police officers. 

“If one of us spots them, she or he alerts others and we run away to avoid arrest. Normally I just push my stuff under a parked taxi because the municipal officers have no time to search under vehicles. Their raids are always very swift because they are also scared of being assaulted if they stick around for too long,” said Makoni. 

Scenes of vendors’ running battles with municipal police officers are an almost daily occurrence in the streets of Bulawayo and in some instances the raids turn nasty. 

In 2016 six municipal police officers came under fire for allegedly handcuffing a vendor, beating him up and stomping on his head until he became unconscious.

The cops had been carrying out routine raids on unlicensed vendors when they allegedly savagely attacked Mark Chibanda before angry vendors retaliated and chased them away. The vendors later besieged the Large City Hall and pelted the building with stones.

Chibanda of Old Pumula suburb lay on the pavement for almost an hour before he was rushed in an ambulance to the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH).

A few months earlier four council cops were rushed to hospital after vendors assaulted them. Witnesses said a fight broke out between the illegal vendors and the municipal police officers who had confiscated their goods.

The men and women in blue were again caught in the eye of a storm in 2017 for assaulting a Bulawayo man whom they mistook for a vendor. 

The cops swooped on Brighton Madegwe (25) of Kingsdale suburb as he disembarked from a commuter omnibus with his mother and brother, beat him up with rubber truncheons until he lost consciousness.

He was later hospitalised.

The Government recognises the informal sector as a major player in the economy contributing significantly to the Gross Domestic product (GDP) and the International Monetary Fund says that Zimbabwe has the second biggest informal economy in the world.

Locals authorities are therefore expected to facilitate the operations of vendors by designating vending sites. — @RaymondJaravaza.