Political hawks eye Mbare market takeover

KUDAKWASHE CHIBVURI

Powerful political figures are reportedly eyeing takeover of the refurbished Mbare market following a devastating inferno that razed down small businesses and saw victims losing goods worth millions of dollars last week, Business Times has learnt.

Several victims who spoke this week told Business Times that preliminary investigations prove that the fire broke out as a result of arson as politically connected activists wanted to take over the market, a million-dollar venture, and parcel it to powerful figures.

This was corroborated by residents who also engaged stakeholders who raised the same suspicions.

Harare Residents Trust (HRT) Director Precious Shumba said the fire was suspicious and the endgame was to benefit political actors.

“The fire started in several places, which raises suspicions,” Shumba said.

“Some big people linked to political leaders are allegedly behind this. The suspicion among market traders is that this fire was intended to clear the market for outside interests,” he added.

Shumba said the move by the government to compensate the victims was likely to benefit only the politically connected as many traders who lost their wares were not properly documented.

“There is no database of the traders and without proper records, those who lost their goods may not get any compensation,” Shumba said.

“While the declaration of a state of disaster is a welcome development, the mechanisms for providing help to individual traders remain unclear.”

Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) Director Reuben Akili said the interest of the government in the Mbare issue was worrying as ideally, council must be taking a central role.

“We are worried over the continuing government presence,” he said.

“Whilst we appreciate, the government should not start to compete with the local authorities in terms of these issues. We understand that the market belongs to the city of Harare so we expect the government to complement the city of Harare not to compete,” he added.

Mbare has been a politically volatile market for years with the government sweating on how to deal with thousands of traders and bring “sanity.”

On Tuesday, the government declared the Mbare inferno a state of disaster and that they will provide compensation to victims.

The fire, the government said, affected approximately 4,695 traders.

“The declaration of a state of disaster will facilitate an appropriate response,” Local Government Minister Daniel Garwe said, adding the government plans to engage a leading construction company to rebuild the market.

“We are putting in place sustainable infrastructure that will ensure orderliness where traders can pay their taxes. We want modern facilities that will accommodate various sectors making it difficult for traders to evade obligations.”

Despite these assurances, many remain sceptical.

 “We fear that once the market is rebuilt, we may not be allowed to return,” one of the traders said.

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