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Streets in most local towns and cities are always teeming with vendors, their wares, their customers and passersby.
Their wares are basically everything from toothpicks, rat poison, clothing items, small radio and television sets, and fresh produce to home-packed chicken feet. In Harare vendors sell clothes out of car boots or from hangers hanging from the top part of open car doors. Instead of shouting their voices hoarse, rat poison hawkers on Bulawayo streets simply play pre-recorded jingles on small solar-powered hailers advertising the product.

While Bulawayo and other smaller towns have their fair share of the vendor invasion, Harare is the worst affected. There, the entire central business district has been taken over.

The lawlessness had to end at some point. On Monday, Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Cde Ignatius Chombo announced that all illegal vendors must stop operating by Monday next week. Those who fail to heed his call would be arrested and their wares confiscated.

“We have agreed that by next Monday, vending should be at designated places,” said Cde Chombo. “This applies to all cities and towns. As the responsible authority in your respective councils, I expect you to restore order in this area with immediate effect. I have written to the Minister of Home Affairs and henceforth you can expect the Zimbabwe Republic Police to co-operate with you in your efforts to confine vending to designated sites.”

Councils had failed to remove the street vendors but with the government pronouncing itself in this way, and pledging to deploy police to ensure compliance, we are optimistic that the campaign will succeed.

The level to which vending has grown impairs the aesthetic appeal of our central business districts, poses grave health risks and engenders disorder. While response to the ultimatum has been mixed, the illegal vendors must realise that councils have long-standing by-laws that designate specific zones for licensed vending. Those operating in such zones pay tax to local authorities and those outside were operating illegally. So they must comply with the law.

We appreciate that the vendor phenomenon intensified in recent years amid growing joblessness as the economy continues to face sanctions-induced challenges. Hawkers are part of the informal sector. The big size of that sector is the reason why, strictly by definition, the national unemployment rate is nowhere near 84 percent touted by the opposition but around 11 percent according to ZimStat. For this we appreciate the contribution of the informal sector in creating employment and sustaining livelihoods, but operators have an obligation to uphold the law.

At the same time, we appreciate that designated sites are too small to accommodate the growing mass of vendors, or that they are situated far away from the foot traffic that constitutes the larger part of their market. With regard to this, we implore local authorities to avail more vending marts at convenient places. By convenient places, we do not mean at the door- steps of established supermarkets. Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Martin Moyo said Lobengula Mall and Sixth Avenue would now be designated vendor zones, adding to existing ones. Harare has designated four new areas where vendors would be relocated. Smaller towns have also done the same ahead of Monday.

Vendors have to understand that by moving them off shop doors, into designated bays the government is not out to put them out of business. They will realise that customers would follow them wherever they are going to legally operate from. Those in Bulawayo know that “Khothama Boutique” is a popular market in its own right, yet is situated away from the normal mass foot traffic of Lobengula Mall.

While it is good that the local authorities are identifying the new sites now, we hope that this would be done from time to time to respond to demand for such space. It is crucial too that local authorities don’t just peg vending bays, but invest in relevant amenities such as ablution facilities and refuse collection receptacles for greater hygiene as well as encouraging the establishment of businesses to provide food. This is critical in the context of the government’s positive disposition towards nurturing the informal sector into the formal.

We hope the transition on Monday would be smooth. Vendors need to submit to the law so that there would be no need for authorities to enforce it.

However, we have to point out that the government and local authorities must allow the vending chaos to recur. They must be always aware of the need to respond to meet demand for more space.