BCC intensify crackdown on vendors

TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO 

THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has intensified crackdown on illegal vendors in the central business district (CBD) where they had become an eyesore after taking over every available space on the roads and pavements, the city’s deputy mayor Mlandu Ncube has said.

The blitz comes at a time drug cartels are operating in the CBD under the guise of vending.

In an interview with Business Times, Ncube said the mission was to restore order in the city.

He said 5th Avenue has become a hub of drug trafficking.

“(We are) in a drive to clean up the city. And also what makes us want to clear that area, especially 5th Avenue, is that it has been a hub of drugs and sort of illegal activities taking place,” Ncube said.

He added: “Actually it is not an operation, it is the duty of the municipal police, especially the vending section, to clear the illegal activities that are taking place within the city. After clearing that the perpetrators and confiscated goods must be surrendered to the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP).”

BCC Corporate Communications Officer Nesisa Mpofu said informal traders should use designated sites.

“The enforcement targets all unruly elements in the city. Some of these occur outside business hours which include informal traders of no fixed abode who live on the streets and sleep there. They also block roads making them impassable. They further compromise the sanitation of the city as they don’t have access to toilets and ablution facilities because they are operating from undesignated sites.”

Bulawayo Vendors Trust Association director Mike Ndiweni blamed space barons.

“At the centre of this whole issue is a serious issue of space barons who appear to be a law unto themselves. They have caused and are at the centre of all this mess, selling drugs and illicit alcohol.

“They are duping innocent women and men who are informal traders by promising them protection, collecting US$1 a day from each vendor,” he said.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday this week, nine municipal police officers were granted ZWL$50 000 bail each by Bulawayo regional magistrate, Joseph Mabiza, for two counts of attempted murder.

They allegedly shot three vendors during the skirmishes that broke out in the city centre.