THE death of an innocent child in Masvingo on Monday after being caught up in the senseless cat and mouse games by municipal police and vendors should be condemned in the strongest terms.
According to reports we carried yesterday, a woman was forced to leave her child lying by the roadside at Mucheke bus terminus after municipal police raided the vendors.
A car that pursued the vendors ran over the child who died instantly.
After the death of the child, the vendors rioted and in the process burnt down the car that was abandoned by the municipal cops.
A second vehicle that had been parked near the council vehicle was also set on fire. Although it would be irresponsible to condone the lawlessness by the vendors, their anger is understandable.
The Masvingo incident came hard on the heels of another violent reaction to a raid by municipal police at Bulawayo’s Renkini long- distance bus terminus.
Vendors accused municipal police of confiscating their wares and ill-treating them.
The barbaric treatment of informal traders is becoming a cancer throughout the country.
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What is clear about the phenomenon is that the authorities are dealing with symptoms rather than the root cause of the problems that have seen the number of informal traders spiralling.
Zimbabwe’s economy is contracting at an alarming rate, forcing thousands out of their jobs.
Informal businesses appear to be the only alternative for many hence the surge in the number of vendors.
Local authorities have to anticipate such changes in the economy and plan accordingly.
As the incidents in Masvingo and Bulawayo have demonstrated, a heavy-handed approach to the problem would not bring normalcy into the informal sector.
The tension between the councils and law enforcement agents on one hand and the informal traders on the other would not arrest the chaos that now characterises the streets of our urban centres.
Police and the councils should stop using yesteryear tactics to solve today’s problems.
