Zimpapers Logo

The chaos which has characterised Central Business Districts of most of our cities and towns cannot be allowed to continue. City authorities need to restore order within the CBD where vendors are doing as they please.

This law of the jungle is a recipe for disaster and there is a need to urgently address the problem. A few years ago the country witnessed an outbreak of cholera in most cities and towns that claimed thousands of lives and we do not want a repeat of this.

We want to commend the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Ignatius Chombo for his timely intervention. Minister Chombo directed local authorities to restore order within their CBDs and has said by next Monday there should be order in the cities and towns.

Minister Chombo who met mayors, town clerks and other senior local authorities’ officials on Monday directed councils to, with immediate effect, restore order in their respective cities or towns. He said councils should also deal with illegal settlements sprouting in their cities or towns saying the authorities’ claim of being under undue political pressure was a mere perception.

He said vendors should be moved to designated places because the obtaining situation whereby every available space has been occupied by vendors is not acceptable. Pavements within the CBD area should be cleared of vendors and no vendors should be allowed to operate in front of shops.

Agreed, the informal sector contributes significantly to the economic growth of a developing country like ours but this should not be a licence to operate in undesignated places. Councils should come up with vending sites for specific commodities for example vegetable markets should be demarcated from those selling, say clothes.

It is the responsibility of councils to ensure that there is order in their respective cities and towns and those who fail to carry out their mandate should be penalised.

The leadership of the vendors’ associations on their part should assist their respective municipalities in ensuring that their members operate from designated places.

We are very cognisant of the fact that the informal sector is a source of livelihood for many families given that many companies have closed leaving thousands of workers jobless. Many of these workers have since joined the informal sector in order to fend for their families but the fact remains that vending should only be done at designated places.

It is our fervent hope that the vendors will not wait until Monday to move to designated places. There is no need for the forceful removal of vendors who, we want to believe, appreciate the consequences of disorderly vending especially within the CBD. The sprouting of illegal settlements is another issue of concern which should be addressed immediately. Those protecting illegal settlers should be exposed and now that Minister Chombo has directed the councils to deal with the problem, there should be no sacred cows.

Councils have master plans that should be adhered to religiously if we are to have orderly development of our cities and towns. We want to once again implore councils to act immediately to restore sanity to our cities and towns.