Source: Harare’s partitioned shops risky, dangerous – herald
Trust Freddy-Herald Correspondent
ON a busy afternoon in Harare’s city centre, shoppers squeeze through narrow aisles, brushing past glass partitions, dodging low-hanging ceilings and weaving between overflowing stalls.
The aroma of sizzling meat from a corner canteen mixes with the scent of fabric and perfume.
From the outside, the buildings seem ordinary, but inside, they are tinderboxes waiting to ignite.
In the race to turn a profit, shop owners and tenants have carved up once-spacious stores into claustrophobic “malls,” stacking merchandise from floor to ceiling and installing wooden mezzanines that defy building regulations.
Now, with fire incidents on the rise, city officials are warning that this patchwork of commerce and chaos has created a deadly risk.
Harare City Council’s chief fire officer, Mr Lovemore Mafukidze, says the recent spate of fires in the CBD is no coincidence.
The culprits are a toxic mix of illegal building modifications, flammable materials and reckless use of electrical appliances.
“The CBD has become challenging,” said Mr Mafukidze said in an interview.
“Large shops have been split into small cubicles, each selling different goods.
“We are seeing perfumes, artificial hair — materials that are highly flammable — all crammed into these tight, unregulated spaces.
“It becomes extremely difficult to manage when a fire breaks out.”
Winter months make matters worse.
People bring in heaters, cookers and other appliances that are often left plugged in, even during power outages.
When electricity is restored, these forgotten gadgets surge back to life, sometimes sparking fires among the piles of combustible goods.
“The cases of fires have increased mostly in winter because people will be using heaters, cookers, and some forget to switch them off,” he said.
“At times when there is an electricity blackout, people tend to leave sockets on, and when the electricity is restored, those electrical appliances will heat up, ending up affecting inflammable substances.”
When the fire brigade responds to a fire, water supply becomes another hurdle.
Harare’s water infrastructure has long struggled to meet the city’s demands, and this includes fire fighting.
“Yes, fire tenders carry water,” Mafukidze explained, “but it’s often not enough when dealing with big fires.
“The challenge we have in Harare is that water reticulation has been a problem for a long time.
“The water we use to put out fires is the same water we use in industries and homes.”
An investigation by The Herald revealed that Harare’s fire risk is baked into the very architecture of its CBD.
Buildings originally designed as single-level commercial spaces are now being fitted with wooden mezzanine floors to double or even triple usable space.
These makeshift upper decks, often built without proper approval or structural consideration, lower ceiling heights to below two metres, shorter than most door frames.
Standard commercial ceiling heights range from 2,7 to 3,5 metres, meaning many of these new “malls” are dangerously out of spec.
Experts warn that low ceilings trap heat and smoke, giving occupants little time to react or escape during a fire.
And with poor ventilation, narrow exits and no fire escape plans, many buildings have effectively become fire traps.
A patchwork marketplace
Behind the rise of these micro-malls is a booming informal retail market.
Shop owners are approached by aspiring tenants who offer to rent subdivided spaces.
A single large shop can now house dozens of micro-entrepreneurs, selling everything from cosmetics and cellphones to braids and fried food.
In some cases, owners double or triple their rental income.
Tenants, in turn, further sublet their sections to others, creating a layered leasing system that’s difficult for authorities to monitor.
The result is a bustling ecosystem of undocumented traders and unregulated commerce.
While this entrepreneurial spirit reflects Zimbabwe’s shifting economy, it comes at a cost.
Many operators lack business licences, and while the city insists that every trader must be registered, corruption has reportedly infiltrated enforcement.
Some traders claim municipal police now solicit “protection fees” rather than enforce the law.
A recipe for disaster
Some buildings house more than 50 traders, crammed into spaces that were never meant to carry so much weight, wiring or foot traffic.
In several cases, canteens operate with open flames just metres from fabric stalls, separated only by glass partitions.
Many of these buildings are so poorly lit that artificial lights remain on all day.
Smoke from kitchens seeps into adjacent shops.
Timber beams in the mezzanine levels are often exposed, with tiles missing and gaps revealing shoppers below, an unsettling reminder of the improvised nature of these structures.
Despite the risks, the trend continues.
Shop partitioning has been hailed by some as a creative adaptation to space shortages.
But as more fires ignite and lives are endangered, the question is how long can the city keep looking the other way?
Condemned
Last year, approximately 500 properties, including 14 high-rise buildings in Harare were flagged for safety violations like inadequate ventilation, lack of emergency exits and general disrepair.
The city issued over 500 abatement orders to owners of the buildings, directing them to urgently repair their properties or risk their closure.
An abatement order is a legal document issued by a Government agency or authorised body to address a building nuisance or violation of regulations.
It requires the recipient to take specific actions to stop the nuisance or violation and comply with the regulations.
The orders are aimed at resolving issues that pose a threat to public health, safety or the environment.
Violations that trigger the issuing of abatement orders include unsanitary living conditions in a property; excessive noise pollution; untreated hazardous waste; non-compliance with building codes and air or water pollution exceeding permissible limits.
Some of these buildings, which are home to thousands of small enterprises that are crammed in small spaces, date back to the colonial era.
Most of the buildings remain open to the public. City officials estimate that around 100 000 people use these buildings daily.
Looking ahead
For city authorities, the challenge has become more than just about enforcement, it has become a fight to strike a balance between safety, economic realities and urban planning.
Until meaningful reform arrives, Harare’s crowded CBD will remain a vibrant but volatile marketplace, one that is fuelled by ambition and shadowed by danger.
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