Harare Destroys Illegal Roadside Structures
Harare City Council has started demolishing informal business structures erected along roadsides.
This follows an ultimatum issued by the Provincial Development Coordinator for Harare, Tafadzwa Muguti on the 3rd of June.
Acting Harare Mayor, Councillor Stewart Mutizwa, justified the demolitions. He said:
No more room for illegal operations in Harare. We are going to remove every illegal settlement and every illegal operation.
It is not only on the roadsides but everywhere with illegal operations. We will be controlling them and removing them.
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Former Harare Mayor Ben Manyenyeni, however, said while the operation was a noble idea, its implementation was a bit late. He said:
Let’s not dilly dally over enforcement, we are all acting too late, we are all acting too insincere.
I think we dabble between wanting to allow it and not wanting to allow it and we are politicising this thing.
If as a city and as a country, we agree what is right must be right and what is wrong must be wrong, and be rigid about it, we won’t have the problems we are facing now.
The majority of Zimbabweans have resorted to informal trading for survival as employment opportunities in the country continue to dwindle worsened by a deteriorating economy.
As a result, informal businesses such as car wash, motor vehicle sales, furniture making, vending markets among others, have mushroomed along all Harare’s roads.
