Vendors in Bulawayo’s Central Business District (CBD) have become more brazen in their illegal occupation of Fifth Avenue, to the point that they react violently to attempts by the law to have them removed from the streets over the course of this year, the city council says.
The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has struggled to keep order in the CBD, in part blaming suspected Zanu PF activists for taking over some streets and illegally dividing vending bays among themselves.
This challenge was pronounced by Bulawayo mayor, Councillor Solomon Mguni, who in his annual end-of-year speech, admitted that the year 2022 saw the increased illegal occupation of 5th Avenue by vendors.
Cllr Mguni said these vendors “have become so daring to the extent that they have responded violently to lawful attempts to remove them.”
BCC has had several engagements with the ruling party and Devolution and Provincial Affairs Minister, Judith Ncube, in order to end the crisis but to no avail.
November said political rhetoric and some political groupings negatively impacted the city’s cleanliness.
The Bulawayo mayor noted that other unlawful vending operations cropping up across the CBD appear to have been given a boost by the Fifth Avenue sellers.
“The Fifth Avenue vendors appear to have given an impetus to other illegal vending activities that are sprouting throughout the Central Business District. This has led to valid complaints from licence paying businesses as some vendors sell, from the former’s pavements, items in direct competition to those sold in the shops,” Mguni said.
Council security personnel will continue to patrol and police the streets to stop unlawful activity despite assaults from the illegal vendors, the mayor added.
“Council also continues to engage state security to assist in managing this environment which is very explosive and highly polarised,” Mguni said.
Cllr Mguni stated that during the period under review, George Silundika Street between Fourth and Sixth Avenues was invaded by trucks that were selling farm produce but a joint operation between Council and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) evicted them from the area.
Last year in September, the suspected Zanu PF activists took over a portion of Fifth Avenue and doled out vending bays to party supporters and this year in August, these activists reportedly outmuscled municipal police and took over a part of the busy Sixth avenue.
