Will Council’s crackdown tame the chaos or ignite a new war on business?

Harare’s skyline is changing at breakneck speed—not with gleaming skyscrapers but with makeshift shopping malls, hastily converted retail spaces, and illegally erected structures mushrooming across the Central Business District (CBD).

The city’s commercial heart is being reshaped by an underground economy that thrives in the shadows of formal regulation.

Now, the Harare City Council has issued yet another warning, threatening demolitions and shutdowns for businesses operating outside the law.

But will this be just another empty threat, or is the council finally ready to reclaim control?

For years, informal traders and opportunistic property owners have outpaced the sluggish hand of urban planning, capitalizing on a retail boom driven by economic desperation.

Large commercial buildings that once housed Zimbabwe’s retail giants are now partitioned into tiny cubicles, each offering a sliver of space to vendors eager to make a living.

The result? A cityscape that is increasingly chaotic, congested, and fraught with legal gray areas.

The council’s recent warning is far from unprecedented.

Time and again, city authorities have threatened demolitions, even executing them sporadically, only for illegal structures to reappear days later. The reality is that enforcement has been crippled by corruption, political interference, and a lack of long-term urban planning.

Every time bulldozers roll in to restore order, behind the scenes, bribes change hands, and new structures rise like weeds in the cracks of a broken system.

Beyond the legality of these developments lies a deeper economic dilemma.

The formal retail sector is suffocating under heavy taxation, licensing fees, and operational costs, while informal traders operate with minimal overheads.

The playing field is anything but level. Established businesses are shutting down, unable to compete with traders who bypass tax obligations and regulatory scrutiny. The city, instead of curbing this imbalance, has let it spiral into a full-blown crisis.

If the council is serious about restoring order, its crackdown cannot be selective, sporadic, or driven by political convenience. It must be consistent, transparent, and backed by a broader strategy to integrate informal businesses into a regulated framework.

Simply demolishing structures without addressing the root causes of this disorder—economic hardship, corruption, and poor urban planning—will do little more than create a cycle of destruction and reconstruction.

For now, Harare’s commercial jungle stands at a crossroads. Will the city finally enforce its own laws, or will it once again turn a blind eye as the informal economy tightens its grip? One thing is certain—without decisive and corruption-free intervention, Harare’s CBD will continue to spiral into unregulated chaos, pushing formal businesses closer to extinction.