Feature: Zimbabwean gov't plan to evict vendors from streets sparks anger

Leticia Sibanda, 20, a vendor in Zimbabwe's capital Harare looks into the sky, with her eyes showing signs of desolation following a government directive for merchants to vacate the streets they have been occupying since 2013.

Street vending has become a source of livelihood for Sibanda and millions of others in a country whose unemployment rate is estimated at 80 percent although official government statistics are conservative.

At least two million people are vending in the streets, among them are even university graduates who can't find a job in the failing economy.

Sibanda says her husband Givemore, 27, is an unemployed university graduate with a bachelor of arts degree, and has also turned into vending.

Last week, the government issued a seven-day ultimatum which ends on Monday, to the informal traders to leave urban streets or face the law.

The move follows the unprecedented disorder caused by vendors in Harare's central business districts selling goods such as fruits, second-hand clothes, African herbs and meat.

Samuel Wadzai, director for the National Vendors Union of Zimbabwe (NAVUZ) told media this week that vendors will not bow down to the government directive.

Defense Minister Sydney Sekeramayi has ruled out the involvement of army in the removal of the vendors, saying it is the responsibility of ministries of local government and small and medium enterprises to move them to properly designated sites.

"As NAVUZ, our position remains clear and we will communicate the same to our members that they will never be removed from their current vending sites unless alternative and equally profitable vending sites are provided for them," Wadzai said, adding that it will be "declaring war on livelihood" if army and is involved in the eviction to "fight vendors".

In the past, the government has successfully used the same way to deal with similar situations like the controversial Murambatsvina clean-up campaign which saw thousands of urbanites' illegal houses destroyed in 2005, leaving at least 700, 000 people homeless and without a source of livelihood, according to the United Nations.

"The announcement by the government to let us leave the streets is very disturbing because selling these tomatoes here in the city center had become a lucrative business for me," said Sibanda.

"I was getting a profit of at least 10 U.S. dollars per day unlike in the so called designated areas where no one comes to buy the tomatoes," she added.

Tichaona Maziofa, a vendor along the populous Robert Mugabe Road in Harare, said he was ready to take the authorities head on.

"I am not afraid of the threats. Come Monday we will show them that we are human beings like them and fight," Maziofa said

He said that, instead of chasing them away, government should concentrate on creating employment for them.

During the 2013 election campaign, President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party promised to create 2.5 million jobs if it won elections. However, since 2013, the economy has been on a downward trend with many firms either closing down or retrenching.

Another vendor Everjoice Chokuda said she was prepared to relocate to designated vending sites in the periphery of the CBD but complained that she will not get many customers.

"Business is here in the city center. We are coming to customers rather than them coming to us. We make more money here," she said.

Harare City Council spokesperson, Michael Chideme, said the council expected the traders to vacate the capital city's streets as ordered.

"We are not saying no one should vend, but they should do so at designated places. What they are doing is against our city by-laws and we cannot watch while people break the law," he said.

The chaotic situation brought by uncontrolled vending does not give a good picture of Harare to tourists, he added.

However, social commentator Pastor Cleopas Taguma Neuso differed with Chideme.

"I think it is immoral for the government to chase those vendors. Where do they go? The few options available are not enough and it will be unfair to take such drastic action," said Neuso. Endi