By Correspondent
As the SADC Summit draws near Government and Council have unleashed waves of officers to chase and arrest vendors in the CBD.
The sights are disturbing and old.
In a CBD brimming with vehicles and people it’s disturbing to see old women running away into traffic with cloths laden with wares.
Campaigns against vendors have been going on for years and the clear fact is that they don’t work.
Both Government and Council have failed to provide adequate alternative sites for the traders.
The few facilities that exist in the CBD vicinity are old, derelict and not fit for use.
The authorites have failed to build new infrastructure that can accommodate the vendors.
Thus chasing away vendors who have no alternative sites is useless.
Secondly the economy has informalised and vending is a full time occupation for many.
Zimbabwe’s unemployment rate, according to the Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency stood at 21 percent in 2023.
The main reason why the figure looks so modest against critical arguments of it being higher is because of the definition of unemployment being employed by Government.
Government has worked around the definition to include even those informally employed.
The agenda for that is clearly political.
However, it should follow that those so recognised as employed under this new definition should be respected and supported.
It’s ironic to attack and victimize the same sector which you have recognised as part of the economy.
However, as long as the economy is struggling as it is doing vendors are here to stay.
No amount of state apparatus unleashed to chase and arrest them will work.
Vending is a hand-to-mouth trade where one has to make something each new day.
Thus few can afford seating at home for the duration of the SADC Summit just because someone wants to project a picture of success.
The short term agenda for Government and Council is so accommodate vendors.
This they can do by building requisite infrastructure instead of just creating new taxes to suck the informal sector.
Long term, the task is to rebuild the economy and get all those people into formal employment.
The same way they appeared after the economy imploded, they will vanish once it begins to function.
