By Councilor Denford Ngadziore
Harare City Council Chairperson for the Small and Medium Enterprises Committee Clr Denford Ngadziore has warned Park Street vendors that they won’t operate again.
Ngadziore said Council would no longer allow the usual weekend vending at the site.
Below we reproduce his full statement.
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Dear SMEs Traders in Harare.
The Small to Medium Enterprises Committee has been advised that there are four politically connected space barons who are illegally collecting money from informal traders after misleading them that they will get trading space along Park Street in the Central Business District.
The four are collecting large amounts of money from desperate informal traders with the intention to illegally invade Park Street Road from Jameson Hotel down to Jason Moyo Avenue.
Councils SMEs Committee is advising informal traders not to part with their hard earned money as Council has no resolution to turn Park Street or any other parking bays into weekend flea markets.
The Committee is reliably informed that some desperate traders are currently contributing registration fees of US$20 to the barons who have a target of registering 3000 traders and getting US$60 000 for doing nothing.
Thereafter the barons intend to charge US$10 per trader and stand to make US$30 000 a day.
If the invasion of parking bays has succeeded in other cities, it doesn’t mean it will succeed in Harare.
As a City and as SMEs Committee we will assure you that the plan will fail.
The CBD parking bays will remain as such.
Those who have already paid the registration fees should approach those individuals for refunds while Council has started the process of launching a formal report to the Zimbabwe Republic Police.