TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO
The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) yesterday began a blitz to rid the city of illegal activities as it seeks to bring sanity to Zimbabwe’s second largest city, Business Times can report.
The blitz comes at a time illegal vendors have invaded pavements and left rotten produce on the streets.
Other illegal activities such as the illegal pick up points by private vehicles, washing of cars, repairing of vehicles, among many others, have resulted in serious congestion in the city.
BCC town clerk, Christopher Dube, said the operation will continue until the city is cleared of illegal activities.
“All persons conducting unauthorised informal trading (and activities) on undesignated sites in the city of Bulawayo’s streets, pavements, roadways, illegal pick up points by private vehicles, commuter omnibuses and buses, (should move to designated sites), “ Dube said.
He added: “This fosters peace, cleanliness and control of all informal trading activities through the associations which have Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with the city. Offenders will be prosecuted.”
The city of Bulawayo mayor, Solomon Mguni, said: “We know that there are economic challenges in the country. It’s not a crime to sell for survival. However, what we are seeing now in Bulawayo is that people are selling at undesignated places such as in front of shops.
“They are no longer scared of the BCC’s police. We look forward to restoring sanity in and around the city,” Mguni said.
Commenting on the blitz, an illegal vendor, Silibaziso Ndlovu said vending had become part of their lives.
“We have nowhere to go and we will be left with nothing to do.”
Meanwhile, Mguni heaped praises on Tendy Three Investments (TTI), the company engaged two years ago to manage the city’s parking system, saying they have brought sanity to the city.
“The city was in a bad state. But now, we can say the congestion in the central business district is much better. TTI has been helping us in restoring order. We see that there has been a change,” Mguni said.
According to BCC, at least 50 vehicles are clamped daily on undesignated parking areas in the city centre since the parking system came into effect in February last year.
