VENDORS 4Economic Development has said its members will not move from non-designated selling spots despite the government’s seven-day ultimatum for Harare City Council (HCC) to evict vendors who are being accused of aiding the spread of cholera.
Government last week gave Harare City Council a seven-day ultimatum to decisively deal with vendors plying their trade at non-designated spots.
Vendors 4ED national chairperson Samora Chisvo said they solely blamed HCC for the outbreak of cholera.
He said they were not moved by the ultimatum.
“l want to be very clear, we are not fighting our government but Harare City Council. In response to government ultimatum of eviction of vendors, our position is that vendors are not solely to blame for the cholera crisis, it’s an issue of hygiene and involves everyone,” Chisvo said.
“Our appeal is long overdue and we don’t want to be used in political wars where the Harare City Council puts conditions that affect vendors. We are laying blame on Harare City Council, it is not collecting refuse, we have no proper toilets, we have several storey buildings where people are overcrowded,” he added.
"If we are going to be evicted, where are you going to put us, Harare City Council should have decentralised long ago and now they should give us places before removing us, for now we are not going anywhere,” he added.
Mercy Makuwatsine from the HCC corporate division said she was not in a position to comment before directing all questions to the head of corporate communications Stanley Gama who was not available for comment.
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The seven-day ultimatum has since passed and vendors are still operating in various undesignated places especially in the central business district.
It is not the first time the Zanu PF affiliate Vendors 4ED have clashed with HCC.
Early this year HCC accused the organisation of illegally allocating trading spaces to its members in the city under cover of the ruling party.
Council accused Zanu PF of political grandstanding by creating the Vendors 4ED ahead of this year’s polls to woo voters for the ruling party.
