Vendors who spoke to Southern Eye claimed police officers were moving around vending stalls in Bulawayo high density suburbs and the city centre forcing them to buy Commissioner-General, Augustine Chihuri’s Funfair raffle tickets which cost $2 each.
A vendor who spoke to the publication on condition of anonymity said that the police threatened to impound his wares when he said he did not have money to buy the tickets. The vendor said:
About seven police officers mounting bicycles approached me and my colleagues at Entumbane shopping centre. They produced the raffle tickets and asked each one of us to buy a ticket. When I told them that I did not have money to buy the tickets, they threatened to impound my goods and take me to Drill Hall police station to pay a fine for illegal vending.
Police sources at Bulawayo Central police station who spoke to Southern Eye revealed that each police officer at every police station has been allocated several tickets to sell to raise money for the funfair.
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