HARARE – The government has issued a directive to the City of Harare to immediately clear all street vendors from the capital’s central business district, while reaffirming a national ban on the importation and sale of second-hand clothes.
Local government minister Daniel Garwe, speaking at a meeting with city councillors on Monday, said street vending — especially at night — was fuelling illegal activity, crippling formal businesses, and eroding urban order.
“Night vending has brought with it illicit drug and substance dealings, which is a threat to health, economy and national security,” Garwe said.
“The importation and selling of second-hand clothing is banned, and consequently street and night vending activities are equally banned. The time to act is now, not later.”
He directed city officials to work closely with law enforcement agencies to remove vendors operating from streets and pavements, which he said were congesting Harare and undermining shops that pay taxes and rent.
But the directive has sparked fierce criticism from former opposition MP Fadzayi Mahere and former presidential candidate Elizabeth Valerio, who both accused the government of punishing the poor instead of addressing the root causes of economic collapse.
Mahere said vending is a product of desperation — not defiance — and that Zimbabweans are turning to the streets simply to survive.
“Please understand that nobody wants to be in the CBD vending on a freezing cold night. This is not something done out of choice but desperation. It is a symptom, not the cause, of what is broken in Zimbabwe’s economy,” she said.
“Instead of purporting to ban the livelihoods of those trying to survive, ban the corruption that has led to the poor getting poorer as political elites get richer. Ban the economic mismanagement that has led to chronic unemployment.”
She warned that past evictions — such as the infamous Operation Murambatsvina — failed because the government never addressed the real drivers of poverty.
“You’ll remove vendors today, but they’ll be back again soon. This has been tried many times before — yet here we are. You can’t heal a fracture with a band-aid.”
Valerio also criticised the government’s approach, warning that sudden bans without viable alternatives would only deepen the suffering of the poor and drive people further into the margins of society.
“Places like Mupedzanhamo clothed many of our people. Sakubva Musika has been the lifeline and business hub for countless families… To suddenly cut off these avenues without addressing the root causes is not only unfair — it’s dangerous and shortsighted,” she said.
“We cannot legislate away poverty. Any law that does not take into account chikonzero chaita musoro uteme is bound to push people into even more informal and unregulated spaces.”
Valerio called for policy rooted in empathy and economic realism, not theory.
“When we clamp down on informal traders without giving them alternatives, we are telling families to stop eating before we’ve provided a way for them to procure food. That is not policy — that is cruelty masked as governance.”
She called for the gradual integration of informal traders into formal spaces, investment in skills development, access to capital, and the revival of local manufacturing before vendors are criminalised.
In his address, Garwe also defended the privatisation of key services such as solid waste collection and water supply, saying partnerships with private companies were already delivering visible results.
He said illegal dumps in Harare’s suburbs were being cleared and door-to-door refuse collection had resumed through the Geo Pomona public-private partnership, while the water sector was receiving support from Helcraw Water.
Garwe urged city councillors to enforce traffic laws, prepare for the rainy season, and embrace government development goals outlined in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s “Minimum Service Delivery Standards” blueprint.
Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume welcomed continued cooperation with central government and revealed that the water meter project was now underway, with equipment expected to arrive from China before the end of the year.
“We expect to see significant improvements in water billing, availability and quality,” Mafume said.
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